


It was fate

by Miss_IDK



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/F, Mostly about Severa/Selena, Slow Romance, changes in the main story, frienship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:28:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 43,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27877622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_IDK/pseuds/Miss_IDK
Summary: Severa, Owain and Inigo wake up in an unknown place without being able to return home. How will they adapt to the life in Nohr and will they be able to return to where they come from ?Follow the life of the three friends when they arrive in Nohr.
Relationships: Camilla/Luna | Selena
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	1. A hazy situation

**Author's Note:**

> Heyyyy, I kind of gave up on this fan fiction but I decided to take it back. I am therefore re-posting it again, under another name and with a few very slight changes. Also I will post at a slow pace, except for the first three chapters. And by the way, English isn't my native language, sorry for the mistakes.

* * *

The sun was shining weakly, hidden by dark and ominous clouds that covered the entire sky, the earth was also black, dead and without greenery, as were the trees, their bare branches projecting scary shadows on the ground. There was no noise, no birdsong, no sound of a stream of water that could potentially be nearby, nothing, there was nothing to break that heavy and disturbing silence.

It was in this environment that Severa woke up, she and her two longtime friends, Owain and Inigo. They opened their eyes slowly, blinking once or twice as their vision was somewhat blurry, once it was clear they looked around them, standing up slowly and cautiously, they were dizzy for a few seconds, but it soon stopped. It was Severa who spoke first;

"Hey guys, do you recognize where we are?" After a few seconds she growled, "This place gives me goosebumps!" She turned to face her friends who looked as lost as she did.

"Whaaat~ did I really hear that? Is the brave and fearless Severa afraid?" Inigo scoffed with a teasing smile, nudging Severa slightly by the elbow. This remark only earned him a hard punch on the shoulder.

"Tsss, stop fooling around now, and instead of saying bullshit couldn't you be helpful for once ?!" Her tone was harsh but her two friends knew her anger wasn't actually directed at them, but more as a way to let out her frustration for not knowing where they were.

"Ahhh, my Intuition as a great servant of darkness tells me that we are far from our homeland, far from everything we know, we are in a most gloomy and terrifying place worthy of the greatest-" Owain was cut short by Severa's fist landing directly on the top of his head.

"Aoutchhhh, what was that for ?!" Owain complained, completely flabbergasted at his friend's reaction.

"IT WAS FOR-" Severa was cut off by an Inigo desperately trying to calm her down, grabbing her gently by the shoulders and pulling her back to create more distance between her and Owain. "Whoooo whoo, take it easy guys ... let's sit down and think about our situation quietly huh?" Inigo spoke calmly, with an awkward smile on his lips.

Severa retreated from Inigo's grip with a shoulder movement and walked over to a dead tree stump to sit on it, she crossed her legs as well as her arms and looked to her two companions straight in the eyes with an annoyed pout. She said nothing, meaning that she was okay with speaking calmly and trying to see this whole situation a little more clearly.

"Well ... so ..." Inigo started to speak, glancing quickly at Severa to make sure she was calm. "What do you remember before you woke up here?"

The three friends looked at each other, to see if anyone remembered anything, Severa was the first to speak, "It's all a little blurry ... I remember that with everyone we had finally defeated Grima and then .. . "Severa frowned trying to remember something else but before she could Owain spoke up," After the fight we all went back to camp and celebrated our victory."

"And then. .. "Inigo continued" the three of us, as well as all the children of the future, got together to talk about what we were going to do next, we agreed to stay in this world, with our future parents, since they didn't saw any harm in it and that anyway ... it's not like we have a place to go ... our "present" is completely devastated... "at the thought, a painful silence fell on the group.

"Anyway…" Severa broke the silence, her voice was somewhat shaky, wanting to push away all those bad memories. "The rest is still unclear for me, a few flashes but nothing concrete ..." She looks at her friends with hopes, asking them indirectly if they remember anything else.

Owain then speaks again, "I remember that we had decided to go to the portal that had taken us in the past, to see if it had closed or not ..." he stops talking for a moment and struck a pose, he put two fingers on each of his temples and frowned to show everyone that he was thinking the best he could. "And then ... once we got to our destination ... the portal was still open. But after that it's all blurry, I can't remember how we got here ..."

"AH! " Severa suddenly shouted forcing her friends to look at her, "I remember now, indeed we went to take a look at the portal and got very close to it, but all of a sudden there was like an earthquake and someone pushed me forward, I lost my balance and fell right into the portal, I remember hearing voices calling my name, probably you two, You must have tried to catch me but because of the earthquake you fell with me in the portal ... "

The three friends looked at each other, each finally remembering what had happened, but the happiness of not being left without any clues of what had happened to them was quickly swept away by the hypothesis that had formed in their minds. Their eyes were filled with fear and everyone was staring at each other to see if he was the only one who had thought of this hypothesis. In the end, it was Inigo who spoke again after clearing his throat, "but if the three of us have passed through the portal ... does that mean that we are back to our time of origin? " The three friends looked around once more, gazing at the dead, dark landscape that stretched out as far as the eye could see. "And what about the others, did they also come through the portal or did they stay on the other side?"

A heavy silence fell over the three friends once again, they were all afraid to know the truth but at the same time not knowing where they were became more unbearable every second. However, they all hoped that their others friends were alright.


	2. The journey begins

* * *

The silence lasted a few more minutes, even if they looked more like hours for the three friends. It was Inigo who started the conversation again ;

"I don't think we're back to our original world...I mean this place looks nothing like from where we came from. It might be scary, seems dead and unwelcoming but...it's...different in a way... "

Severa and Owain only nodded at Inigo's statement, still lost in their own thoughts. After a while Severa opened her mouth to speak but closed it a few seconds later before reopening it to finally speak in a somewhat shaky and hesitant voice;

"But if we're not back in our present... then, where are we, and what if we aren't even in Ylisse anymore, or worse ... what if we aren't even in the same world anymore, or some other completely different era, or if- "she was cut gently by Inigo, asking her to calm down. Silence fell for a few moments before Severa spoke again;

"And the others ... do you think they're here too?" She raised her head to look at her friends, who in turn looked at her. "No I don't think so ... well at least I hope not ..." was all Owain could say.

"Either way," Inigo started, "we can't just stay here and wait for something to happen." He paused for a moment to watch his friends nod "I suggest we search the area to see if we find the portal or someone"

Again Severa and Owain nodded before getting up. They chose a direction and began to walk, looking closely around them.

* * *

Hours passed as they searched through the forest of dead trees, finding nothing.

The whole forest looked alike, leaving no markers for the three friends, the trees were arranged in a disorganized way, without any paternal, there were no paths, no streams or rocks. The trees were sometimes very stuck together, making it difficult to explore, their dead branches clinging to clothes, and scratching bare parts of the skin. The earth creaked with every step, and sometimes you could hear the sounds of moving leaves or creaking branches without ever being able to identify the cause.

It wouldn't take long for the sun to disappear and that would only make the forest even scarier if that was even possible. After a few more hours they decided they should take a break.

"We could stop here." Severa said pointing to a place a little further away, a place where there were fewer trees, which left enough room to rest and spend the night without being too far apart. Then they walked to the place indicated, before sitting on the floor in a circle.

* * *

The sun had been gone for a short time and yet the temperatures had already started to drop, during the day the place was quite pleasant but now it was almost freezing cold. However, no one even had the energy to complain about it.

"we did not find anything. I am ..., on the one hand, relieved that no one we knew was found, but on the other hand we did not find a portal either, he surely had close ... "Inigo spoke emotionlessly, his head tilted down.

"So what do we do now?" Severa was in the same condition as Inigo, except that to pass the time she played with her hair.

"Come on my brave friends! Don't let yourself go adrift, here we are in a new world, what could be more exciting than that! It is our duty to hold our heads up high and let ourselves be guided by the excitement of discovery! ”although Owain spoke as he used to, he was sorely lacking in enthusiasm.

"Yes ... you're right Owain ... we can't just stay here in this dead forest, we should try to get to a town or something. What do you say, let's stay here this night and tomorrow we start looking for a city? ”Inigo looked at his friends waiting for an answer.

"Let's do this, I refuse to spend the rest of my life in this rotten forest, plus we won't last very long without having something to eat and drink!" Owain and Inigo smirked slightly at their friend's grumpy character, she hadn't really spoken since they had been there and hadn't complained either, seeing her cranky again made them think everything would be fine, they were together they weren't alone and they would get by together.

"Well, I suggest we each take a third of the night to stand guard, I'll take the first, Owain you'll take the second and you Inigo the third, are you okay?" Everyone nodded and Owain and Inigo settled down to prepare for sleep as Severa settled down on a tree stump, her sword close at hand.

* * *

During the first third of the night there was nothing to report, when it was turn to change Severa gently woke Owain up and then settled down to sleep.

The second as well as the third tier proceeded in the same way as the first.

Dawn was breaking, when Inigo decided it was time to wake up his friends, although they mumbled something like that it was far too early to get up or that they wanted to sleep a few more hours they got up without arguing too much.

It was not long before they chose a direction and then left, not knowing where they were going or where they were but determined not to stay any longer in this forest.

* * *

The hours passed and they still continued to walk, they had been out of the forest for some time now. They were currently walking on a path in a dead plain. They had found a path soon after exiting the forest, although it was in poor condition and had started to fade, it was the proof that a civilization was at the end of the road, in what condition they didn't know but it was still a hope they wanted to believe in.

The plain was all that was more mundane, it stretched as far as the eye could see, dotted with hills of dead earth that crumbled at the touch.

During the last hours they had taken several breaks, once next to a river to hydrate, thanking Naga for this find so rare in these places of abandoned land of all kinds of life. The others were just at the side of the path to rest for a few minutes before resuming their walk.

It had now been several hours since their last break so they decided to stop for a few moments, they dropped to the side of the path, exhausted and out of breath.

"I can't take it anymore! We've been walking for hours and we still haven't found anything, there is absolutely nothing! What kind of place is it even ?!"

"We'll end by finding a town or something Severa, for now you should rather rest, we'll be leaving soon. " Inigo spoke in a quiet, low voice, lacking the energy to speak louder.

"Yes sir !" Severa responded with a voice filled with sarcasm as she rolled her eyes, Inigo simply ignored her preferring to turn to Owain who had remained surprisingly calm. Owain was standing a few yards away from, not facing them. When suddenly he told them to come and see something, he was pointing his finger at the horizon. His friends stood up, moaning a little, thinking it was one of Owain's crazes again. When they got to the latter's side they looked where Owain was pointing.

In the distance was a huge city, it was still far away but it was visible. If they continued at this pace they should have gotten there just before dark.

For a moment they thought they were dreaming. For hours they walked without ever finding anything, they had almost lost hope. But yet it was indeed there, no matter how much they blinked, when they reopened their eyes the immense city didn't disappear.

The three of them then looked at each other, their eyes filled with joy, hope and relief, two seconds later the three of them were in a tight and somewhat awkward embrace, jumping in joy and thanking Naga. They finally broke apart and backed away from each other slightly.

"My brave friends and companions, what we see in the distance is the reward for all our efforts and our misfortune!" Owain was speaking loudly while laughing one of his iconic laughs.

"The city remains far away and you can barely see it but it is there! We should be able to get there just before dark." Inigo was also overjoyed as he spoke.

The two men started to walk quickly on the path, eager to arrive. They quickly stop, however, when Severa grabs them both by the collar of their tops pulling them back. At the sudden action Inigo and Owain stifled a slight scream of surprise and hastily put their hands around their necks.

"Whooaa, what was that for ?! You almost strangled us!" Inigo was still holding his throat as he spoke looking up to see a slightly annoyed Severa.

"Are you a bunch of kids or what ?!" Severa screamed but said nothing more. When she saw her two friends exchange a glance between them then re-focus on her with a look of incomprehension she continued. "Yes I know it's great that we found a city and I'm happy too but you forget that we don't know where we are, from everything we've seen so far nothing inspires confidence , everything seems to scream "danger" and "scary"! " She paused for a moment looking at her friends who looked less happy than they did two minutes ago but they still nodded. Inigo spoke hesitantly a little;

"So we're not going to go into town ...?"

" I did not say that." At Severa's words, Owain and Inigo smiled a little more. "But," their smiles faded as they heard their friend continue. "We have to be very careful, we can't just let our guard down like that. I think we should change our identities, changing our first names should be enough." She paused to think for a moment then nodded "so we'll probably have to find some new clothes if we don't want to stand out too much, don't make people suspect that we are strangers otherwise we'll have to explain our situation, which is clearly not an option! Got it, you two? " She gave them a stern look and when they both nodded she continued. "Also, we don't know if they speak the same language as us, and finally we will need a place to sleep as well as something to eat and drink, which means that we need money ... I surely have some change on me but I don't know if it will be the same here ... "

At her words the three friends started to search their pockets to see if they had any money or something that could be useful, Owain found a medium sized bag of gold coins and Inigo and Severa found a small one.

"Well that's already that, we have enough money to survive for a while, thank you to our princely heir here!" Inigo laughed as he put his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Yes, if our money is accepted in this world." She paused and then started talking again. "Well now let's come up with some new names ... we can think about it as we walk, the sun is going to disappear soon and it would be better to arrive before dark."

They nodded and set off.

* * *

They had been walking for a while now, the closer they got the bigger the town seemed to them, though unwelcoming, plus, although it was almost dark, no lights were on.

They continued to walk at the same pace, when all of a sudden Owain accelerated for a few moments and turned so that he was a few feet in front of his friends facing them, he struck a pose, leaning back slightly, the head held high and eyes closed, one hand on the top of his forehead.

"Odin." Was all he said before breaking into a loud, supposedly evil laugh. Severa and Inigo looked at each other for a moment and shrugged before starting to walk again, passing Owain without giving him another look, they resumed the mundane discussion they had before Owain did his little show.

When Owain opened his eyes a few seconds later his friends were gone, he turned around, shocked to see them a few feet away, chatting as if nothing had happened. He then ran to catch up with them and when he was between the two again he spoke in a shocked and slightly hurt voice;

"You ignored me, then abandoned like nothing happened ... to say that I naively believed that we were friends, and that nothing would separate us, even the biggest-" Owain was cut off by the hand of Inigo which was pressed over his mouth preventing him from saying another word.

"Fine we got it, so what did you want to tell us just before?" Severa asked looking at her fingernails and taking on a mock interested tone, sure that Owain hadn't meant anything important just a few minutes before. Inigo withdrew his hand from Owain's mouth, letting him speak normally again.

"That was in relation to our new names ..." Owain declared sheepishly, with those words he gets all the attention of his friends, they were looking at him seriously while waiting for him to continue, when Owain notice that his friends listened fully to him, he spoke much more confidently and in his character. "I have chosen Odin, servant of darkness and great warr- no, Great Mage of the Abyss!" His friends laughed slightly at his enthusiasm but were also amazed at what he had said last.

"A mage ?" Asked Inigo not sure he had heard correctly.

Owain simply nodded, a big proud smile on his lips. "You heard right my dear friend, a dark mage, what am I saying, The Dark Mage! Indeed I decided that changing my name was not enough, I will also use magic! "

" Use magic? ... I'd rather not have to fight this time ... "Severa said softly looking down before lifting her head to start speaking again." Anyway, Odin is fine. " She paused to look at Inigo who nodded then continued. "But Owai- I mean Odin, we should get used to call each other by our new names right now, are you sure of yourself? Use magic really? Do you even know a little about it? I mean, your mother had magic in her blood but… "

" Mother taught me the basics, don't underestimate The Great Odin. "He said confidently." And you my good fellows, what are your new names going to be? "

"I will be Selena "Severa replied quickly, surely having already thought of the name a while ago. Owain and Severa, now Odin and Selena respectively, turned to Inigo.

"I think about it for a moment, but I can't really find… maybe… Laslow? "He said hesitantly.

"Laslow is fine too "Selena agreed before continuing." Any particular reason? "

"My mother once told me that if I hadn't been called Inigo she would have wanted to call me Laslow so..."

" That's nice, "Selena said with a soft little smile, before resuming her usual annoyed pout." Well now that it's settled let's keep moving we're almost out of time, the city is still far away and the sun will soon be down."

And with that they began to walk again.

* * *

When they finally got to the main entrance to town, there weren't any guards at the entrance or anything, just a huge open iron gate. The city was surrounded by high walls leaving only one entrance. Above the iron gate we could see the marking "Windmire, Capital of the Kingdom of Nohr".

The three friends were too hungry, exhausted and thirsty to even pay attention to where they were, they weren't looking around them, just trying to keep moving. The trip had been exhausting and the only thing they wanted right now was to find a place to spend the night.

In the distance they saw an inn, a quick glance between them was enough for them to understand that they all had the same idea, so they headed towards that inn.

Once arrived Odin opened the door with a sharp blow and entered followed by his companions, he opened his mouth to speak, but was suddenly seized with vertigo and faint. His friends tried to catch him but they too ended up in the same condition as their friend.

The trip had worn them out far too much and they had passed out under the surprised and worried looks of the managers and customers of the small inn.

As a wave of whispers and worried and curious looks rose in the little inn a few people approached to see if they were hurt or something, when they couldn't find anything a man spoke "Boss, what do we do of them? We can't just leave them there like that and we're not going to kick them out the door either. " A woman's voice was then heard. "Take them upstairs, to a room with three beds, we'll see what we do with them tomorrow, for now let them rest." The man who had spoken previously nodded and with the help of two other people he took Selena, Odin and Laslow to a small room leaving them to rest.


	3. Nohr

Selena woke up slowly, feeling a hand on her shoulder gently shaking her as well as a familiar voice calling out her new name, the voice was no louder than a whisper but for her it was already too loud, she wasn't a morning person, let alone when she still wanted to sleep.

She growled and turned around causing a sigh from the person who was desperately trying to wake her up.

"Selena, please. I know you're awake." The voice was no longer a soft whisper at all, it was a louder, slightly exasperated voice.

Selena groaned one last time before finally opening her eyes to see an unfamiliar ceiling and next to her Laslow, who seemed to relax when she opened her eyes, then stepped back from her to go sit on a chair a little more away. Selena slowly sat up looking around in more detail, it was a small room, which stretched more lengthwise than width with three beds almost pushed together but separated just enough to stand up, she was currently sitting on the leftmost bed right next to the closed window, the door was to the far right and on the ceiling was an old chandelier that must have been there for a few decades. It was pretty much all there was in the room, just a chair and a small desk were there, against the wall facing the middle bed.

As her thoughts raced through her head trying to figure out why she was there and what happened yesterday, as well as the fact that Laslow was there but Odin wasn't, Laslow spoke up.

"Yesterday when we got to the inn the three of us passed out, so the inn managers kindly took us to this room to let us rest, they explained that to me." Laslow spoke quietly and softly giving Selena time to understand their situation, as she went to open her mouth to speak Laslow continued. "Also if you're wondering where Owai- ODIN is!" He cleared his throat, and blushed, slightly embarrassed to have spoken so loudly "I mean, if you're wondering where Odin is, he's gone for a little walk around town to explore the surroundings."

Selena widened her eyes slightly in surprise when Laslow answered all the questions she had without her even having to speak, but she quickly remembered that this was not surprising, the three of them knew each other for so long after all, sometimes a glance was enough for them to understand each other.

She sat on the edge of the bed, looking around one last time before speaking, "So what do we do now?"

"We should go back downstairs and go see the inn managers, when we go see them earlier with Odin they gave us something to eat and drink." Laslow stopped for a moment suddenly hesitantly and glanced quickly at Selena, when their eyes met he quickly looked away, his gaze fixed on the wall next to the door. He swallowed hard before speaking again. "And don't get mad but…" he glanced in her direction again only to see her staring at him sternly with a raised eyebrow waiting for him to continue. "While we were eating they asked us a few questions, like; why we passed out like that or wondering where we were from ..." Laslow spoke shyly, considering each of his words very carefully, then seeing the look Selena was giving him he quickly said "but don't worry we didn't say anything about what happened to us, we only said that we came from a very, far away, country and that we were just some travelers who had decided to stop over in this city. "

By this time Laslow had already closed his eyes preparing to receive a kick from Selena anytime but it never came, so he slowly and cautiously opened his eyes only to see Selena still sitting on the edge of her bed. sighing.

Laslow swallowed hard again before asking timidly;

"So you're not angry?"

Selena lifted her head to look at him for a few moments before getting up to walk to the window, seconds passed before she sighed again then turned slightly to Laslow and spoke; "No, I'm not angry, you did well,… so what's the name of the place we're supposed to come from? You must have said a name or something to sound more believable, right? "

A slight smile formed on Laslow's lips when he saw that his friend was not angry, he sighed in relief before speaking in a light-hearted manner as he's used to. “We come from a small town in the land of Cydia, which itself is a small land far from Nohr.”

Selena looked at him for a moment before speaking, “Cydia eh? Does this country even exist?” seeing the look that Laslow was giving her she understood that no, this country certainly did not exist. She sighed lightly although a small, amusing smile was on her lips. "And you said Nohr is that right? Is this where we are?" this time she turned completely, leaning against the window and facing Laslow. The latter nodded before speaking.

"Yes that's it, we are currently in Nohr in it capital, Windmire. You remember, it was marked at the entrance of the city, above the iron gate." Selena nodded before frowning slightly, seeming to be thinking about something.

"Nohr eh ..., Nohr that reminds me of something..." she repeated the name of the country a few more times before suddenly yelling, and looking at Laslow. "Of course Nohr!”

“What ?! Have you ever heard of this place?” Laslow was amazed and slightly confused that his friend knew this place at least by name.

"Yes I'm sure it was that name, Nohr ... you remember the children's stories that our parents used to tell us, those where they spoke of another world, much older than ours in which there were incredible warriors ones more than the others? "

Laslow's eyes widened, but now that Selena was saying it, he too could remember hearing his parents tell him that kind of story. "Yes I remember but it wasn't just Nohr there was also ... ahhh what the other country was called ..." He put his head in his hands trying to remember. "Ah! Here it is, I remember the other country was called Hoshido!"

Selena nodded, but soon the slight smile that had been on her lips so far disappeared. "But then those country exists ... and we are there now, which means that ... we are indeed in another world but also in a completely different era ..."

Laslow said nothing but Selena understood very well that he was thinking the same as she was, a silence fell over them before Selena spoke again. "Let's put that aside for now eh…? There's nothing we can do about it. We'll find a way to get home on time." She looked at Laslow, a sad little smile on her lips, he nodded. smiling back at her then he walked to the door, once he got his hand on the doorknob he turned slightly to Selena and gave her a big smile; "So we get off? You must be hungry, right?"

And with that they went downstairs, on their way to meet the owners of the little inn.

Arrived at the bottom of the stairs, selena looked around her, the staircase gave on the central room of the small inn which was also probably a bar since there were several tables and a counter with all the necessary material. Laslow motioned for her to follow her behind the counter, which she did, she let him guide her through the entrance behind the counter which led to a small kitchen which also served as a warehouse, when she had entered the small room Laslow closed the door behind her.

"Sit here," he said, gesturing to a chair next to a small table. " I'll be right back." Selena wondered why she couldn't just stay in the main room and sit at the counter like any other customer would, but she remembered that she didn't really qualify as "any customer" so she didn't complain and just waited for Laslow to come back.

A few minutes passed before Laslow returned with a woman who must have been in her forties, she was rather short and round, brown hair tied in a small bun on the top of her head with a few strands left free in front, her eyes had also the same color, all accompanied by a warm smile, she had a kind of aura that immediately inspired confidence and we felt at ease in her presence. The woman was dressed, probably, in her work clothes, a plain white shirt, black pants and a cream apron.

"So here is the miss, she's awake" the woman spoke loudly and had a rather deep voice but it was not disturbing, it was warm.

"Uh..yes, sorry I didn't show up earlier, also, sorry for the inconvenience." Selena spoke quietly and reverently as she tilted her head slightly down.

Selena lifted her head suddenly when she felt a big pat on her back, she was surprised and let out a little scream at the older woman's sudden action, that latter just laughed. "Oh come on sweetheart, no need for such politeness, we are not in these stilted quarters full of bourgeois, it makes me happy to see three young people like you, it is a change from all those old grumpy people that I see every day! "

Selena gave Laslow a hesitant look, he just responded with a smile before coming to sit next to her. The older woman pulled away from Selena a bit before speaking; "So the little miss, does she want something to eat?" Selena only nodded, as the woman walked away to make her way to the counter, scooping up ingredients here and there.

A few minutes passed, there was no real discussion, just a few sentences every now and then, but the woman was humming softly as she cooked so there was no awkward silence, it was actually quite pleasant.

A few more minutes and the woman came back to Selena with a plate in one hand and a jug of water in the other. She put the plate and the jug down in front of Selena before walking away to grab a stool and come back, sitting down across from Selena.

When the older woman motioned to her that she could eat, Selena thanked her for the meal and began to eat. The meal was simple, rice with meat and some vegetables, but it was good.

"So little miss what's your name?" At the question Selena looked up, she swallowed what she had in her mouth before speaking. "My name is Selena." She said simply.

"That's a pretty name" she nodded "I'm Julia, oh and you don't have to call me ma'am or anything, Julia is fine." Selena nodded again and started eating again.

The minutes passed and Selena had finished eating, the discussion went quietly, Laslow and Severa learned that Julia had been the owner of this little inn with her husband since she was twenty years old, she had started from zero and had managed to get a quiet life as she had always wanted. Her husband had helped them yesterday by transporting them to their room, but today he was away he had to take care of some affairs concerning the inn.

"By the way ..." Selena asked somewhat hesitantly. "How much do we owe you?" Julia looked at her for a moment before smiling softly, then spoke "oh sweetheart don't worry about that, it's the house that offers!" Selena's eyes widened. "But-" she got cut off by Julia. "No" but " my dear that makes me really happy. But on the other hand, where has your friend been? It's been a while since he left right?"

"Ah, Owai-" Laslow was interrupted by a painful nudge in the ribs and a stern look from Selena. He recovered quickly with a forced smile, chuckling awkwardly. "ahah, yes indeed I wonder where this little Odin has gone haha ..." He had accidentally pressed a little too much on the "Odin" but he hoped that Julia would not mind.

Julia gave them a weird look for a few moments before shrugging and moving on. As she was about to open her mouth to speak the door swung open. All heads turned to the source of the noise which was none other than Odin.

Odin was standing there in the doorway in a very special outfit, his entire outfit was yellow and black, you could see a large cape on his back and like his shoes he had some sort of sandals but the most shocking was his top, it was mostly made of some transparent fabric, with just his torso remaining completely bare without any protection, and in his hand you could see a tome of magic.

Julia laughed when she saw his outfit, as Laslow and Selena clasped their heads in their hands looking annoyed but not surprised, although a smile of amusement was clearly on their lips.

"Here I am, back, my good friends, I hope you haven't missed me too much!" He laughed loudly as usual.

A new discussion began, this one dealing with the meaning of Odin's style, the three friends and Julia laugh, the discussion continued for a while. It felt good to just be able to laugh like that without having to worry about what they would do next.

* * *

Selena walked quietly through the streets of Windmire. It had been an hour or two since she had left the little inn to drive around town and buy some new clothes, Laslow was also somewhere in town but they had taken different directions. Owain had stayed at the inn, explaining that he preferred to stay to study magic.

The city was big, but there wasn't a lot of animation, the streets were mostly empty, or with only a handful of people. The stores were mostly open but all their storefronts looked alike.

The city itself wasn't the most unpleasant, but it didn't inspire confidence, everything seemed too calm.

Selena wasn't exactly comfortable in this city but she ignored that feeling, as well as the fact that when she passed someone, that person would look at her strangely before quickly looking away if Selena was looking in her direction.

She continued to walk for a few more minutes losing herself in her thoughts, she thought back to Julia who had been really nice to them, she had not yet had the opportunity to thank her husband and the other people who worked there for helping them the other day, but she remembered to do so later. She was also happy that they spoke the same language and that the money was the same too, it made it so much easier for them, although Owain had told her to be careful what she was buying as the prices were much higher than that they were in Ylisse.

She snapped out of her thoughts when her eye was drawn to a women's clothing store, it was a bit more decorated than any other store she had seen so far and it was open. She decided to go into the little shop.

When she opened the door a small bell sounded signaling her arrival to people inside the store. The shop was not very big but there was a wide choice of clothes, the checkout was just a young woman, about the same age as Selena, she was smiling at her, Selena smiled back at her, letting go a little "hello" before moving to the shelves.

She carefully inspected the clothes, finding several to her liking, but always remembering to check the price so as not to have any unpleasant surprises. She didn't know exactly what she was looking for, she wanted simple clothes so she wouldn't be noticed but also not something too basic that would be boring to wear.

She continued her search for a few more minutes before the saleswoman approached her;

"Are you looking for something in particular?" The woman spoke softly, smiling.

Selena considered what to say to her, in normal times she would have just packed it up telling her to leave her alone and that she didn't need any help, however at the moment some advice could not harm her. She thought for a few more moments before finally speaking;

"Hmm..yes hello, I'm looking for some simple clothes, which are common here" the woman looked at Selena's hair for a few seconds with a complicated gaze before finally smiling at her like nothing had happened. The woman turned and began to walk towards another shelve, motioning for her to follow her. Selena narrowed her eyes slightly, "why are they all looking at my hair!" She thought, but she followed the woman anyway without commenting.

Arrived in a shelf that Selena hadn't yet looked at the woman stopped near a mannequin, the model was wearing a complete outfit with top, stockings, shoes, gloves and even a belt to hang a sword on, the outfit is simple but not too much and seemed nice. Selena thought this outfit would be perfect but she was a little suspicious that the saleswoman had found it so well.

The woman must have felt her gaze as she spoke quickly explaining her choice, "oh I chose to present this outfit to you because you don't look from here so it's a very simple outfit that can make you go anywhere without being noticed, and also I saw that you have a sword with you, this outfit is also very comfortable to fight, it is in fact the basic outfit that the mercenaries wear, if you buy a few more pieces of equipment it will give you enough protection to not be in danger. " The woman was still smiling, not seeming to mind the scowl Selena had worn since she entered the store.

Selena listened intently to what the woman was saying, inspecting the outfit at the same time, making sure the woman was telling the truth. The woman was pretty convincing and Selena had liked the outfit ever since she had seen it so she didn't see a problem buying it.

"Can I try on the outfit?" Her tone was not the most pleasant and left no option to refuse.

"Sure, go over here please." the woman was still smiling, after taking all the pieces of the outfit from the shelf next to the mannequin she motioned for Selena to follow her, heading to the back of the store to a dressing room.

She then handed the clothes to Selena, who took them and then stepped back a few steps before saying; "If you ever need help I'll be at the cashier." And with that she was gone.

Selena walked back into the small cabin and closed the curtain, after making sure it was properly closed, she undressed, folded her clothes quickly and put them on the chair that was in the small cabin. She then took the clothes that the saleswoman had advised her and changed into those. When she was done she looked at herself in the mirror, the clothes fit her well. Selena was surprised that the clothes were a perfect fit without even telling the saleswoman about her size, but didn't complain.

The outfit was made up of long brown boots that reached her a little higher than the knees, some black tights and a white tunic reaching almost mid-thigh, over the tunic she had a rather warm and thick clothing especially at the level of the sleeves which gave a slightly puffed effect, the sleeves were white squared with golden stitching the rest of the garment was darker a mixture of black and brown, which at the level of the chest and up to the collar had golden stars , the belt was basic black with a place to place her sword which she did, as well as a small satchel on the other side, and the gloves were brown just like the boots, they were long, reaching her far past her wrists .

She looked at herself for a few more minutes before nodding satisfied with her appearance, she put her old clothes back in the bag she had brought with her and left the cabin, wearing her new clothes on, she moved closer to the checkout.

"I keep them on me, I buy them." The woman smiled at Selena's statement and gave her the price, it was higher than Selena expected but she could still afford it. She paid, said goodbye and left the shop, ringing the little bell again.

Selena began to walk the streets again happy with her new purchase, she thought of going back to the inn now that she had what she was looking for when her eye were drawn to an accessories store, in the window there were two black ribbons for hair, the price next to it was more than affordable so Selena walked into the store, nodded to the man at the cash register and walked straight to the two ribbons, she gently took them out. Inspected them for a moment before nodding and heading to the cashier, she paid and left the store as quickly as she had arrived.

She looked at the ribbons for a few more seconds before putting them in her bag. Then she remembered what the saleswoman had told her, that she would surely need some pieces of equipment to be better protected. She would have preferred not to think it would be necessary but her gut told her that she would surely need to fight soon, her gut and also the fact that the woman in the shop was not at all shocked by her sword, as if it was something normal.

* * *

She had been walking for a few minutes looking for an armory when she finally found one, the armory was large and the featured items were exorbitantly priced, Selena swallowed hard upon seeing the price, she decided to enter the store anyway hoping to find articles with a more suitable prices for her budget.

As she walked between the shelves, she saw at the back of the store, hanging on the wall a red shield with gold patterns, she approached it, took it in her hands and examined it more closely, it was new, not dented or damaged, it was not the best quality that could be found but it was sufficient, she examined it even more carefully, because if she put the price for this shield there was no interest if she will be disappointed thereafter. Finding nothing abnormal she looked at the price, she expected to be disappointed, however she was shocked instead, the price although expensive, remained within her budget.

She really liked the shield and it was of good quality, and she definitely needed some protection anyway. She thought for a few more minutes, if she bought the shield she would only have a handful of gold coins left over, and seeing how expensive this world was she couldn't buy anything.

She decided to buy it anyway, she walked over to the vendor showed him the shield and passed him the money, once that was done she left the store and this time she headed for the inn.

* * *

After a good quarter of an hour of walking she finally found herself in front of the inn, Selena knocked on the door and opened it slowly, once inside she felt that something was wrong, she searched the room with her eyes until she found Julia sitting at the counter with a man she had never see before, her husband thought Selena, a glass in front of her and beside them was Odin and Laslow with their heads bowed. Selena took a few steps into the inn before closing the door even more gently than when she had entered.

She stepped forward hesitantly, then cleared her throat slightly making her presence known, their heads turned slightly to her before Julia spoke, a sad smile on her lips.

"Oh, sweetheart, you've come back."

Selena walked further until she reached a stool to sit next to Julia, but on the other side of where Odin and Laslow were. She then asked cautiously; " Is something wrong ?"

She glanced at her two friends who only gave her a sad look, it only worried her more.

As for Julia she looked at the man in front of her and spoke sadly with a sigh; “Can you explain it to her, my dear ?” The man across from Julia was definitely her husband, Selena noted.

The man cleared his throat before speaking, "It's a little complicated, it's okay if you don't understand everything." He paused a little, looking down before continuing. "It's about the inn you see ... we're just a little inn in the poorest parts of town, our income isn't very high, but we never complained about it, it was fine for us. However, although we are the owners of this land and of the inn we have taxes to pay, and for a little while they have only increased, especially since there is so much conflict and tension between Nohr and Hoshido, all military and war related things take a lot of money, so King Garon order to increase taxes on little people like us ... But it's too much for us, we can't survive, we got into debt again and again and now we are threatened with closure if we don't pay all our debts by the end of the month."

At that moment Julia was already in tears and had apologized before leaving alone upstairs, Odin had wanted to go see her but her husband had put a hand on his arm and shook his head.

He then looked at the three young people before saying, laughing sadly; "sorry kids you didn't quite come at the right time"

Odin, Laslow and Selena looked at each other for a moment, exchanging sad looks, they were all thinking the same thing; they wanted to help them but knew there was nothing they could do to help those people who had helped them when they needed it.

Selena tried anyway; "How much do you have to donate?"

The man looked at her for a moment, a soft but still sad smile on his lips. "Oh, it's nice to want to help but don't feel obligated, it's none of your business and there is no way you will ever manage to raise 200,000 ECU before the end of the month."

When the prize was announced the three friends were wide-eyed, Odin even had his mouth open, "200,000 ecus ?! It's huge, how can we ask them so much ?!" Selena thought.

The man saw their reactions and spoke, "see there is nothing you can do ... even the Great Contest award would barely be enough," he scoffed.

Hearing this Laslow spoke quickly; "The great contest? What is it?"

The man looked surprised for a second before speaking with a small smile. "You really aren't from here are you? For not even knowing what the Great Windmire Contest is." He paused laughing before resuming with a more serious tone, "but don't even think about it, Julia nor I would never ask you to do something like that!" The slightest hint of a smile that had been on his lips before was gone, leaving only a serious face.

The three friends didn't back away from the man's gaze, determined to find out more about this contest, if there was any chance they could help them by entering this contest then they would.

"We want to know more!" Selena said harshly.

The man looked at her for a moment with the same hard gaze before finally sighing and looking at the three friends one after the other. "Fine, you've won ..., it's called" the Great Windmire Contest "but it's more of a tournament. The goal is to challenge your opponents in battle and come out victorious, the three winners receive a huge reward and- "the man continued to explain in more detail what this great competition was but the three friends had stopped listening after" defeating your opponents "and" winning = enough money to help the inn ". A knowing look between the three friends and they spoke simultaneously;

"We're doing it !"

The man was shocked to hear that and tried to sound them, "But didn't you hear what I said ?! Certainly if you win you will get a huge reward but you will also have to-" the man was cut off by the three young men repeating once again simultaneously;

"We're doing it !"

The man shook his head; "Are you at least listening to me? What about the consequences? The three winners have to become the new-"

The three friends had long since stopped listening to Julia's husband, too excited at the idea of being able to help the inn by simply winning a contest.

"Sir don't worry, I, the Great Dark Servant that I am and my two acolytes here are going to free you from those debts! However it is now very dark so you will excuse us for cutting this conversation short but we are withdrawing. "

And with that the three friends went up to their room under the astonished gaze of Julia's husband.

The man shook his head one last time, giving up about continuing the conversation for today, he'll explain it to them the next day, he thought.

* * *

Night had fallen and the three friends were in their shared room upstairs in the little inn, they were quietly talking about everything that had happened today.

The three friends were starting to get tired, and their conversation ended as they wished each other good night, they settled into their respective beds.

A few minutes passed before Selena thought about the discussion they had with Julia's husband, hadn't he mentioned something about consequences? She couldn't remember exactly what he said, or even if the word "consequences" had been said. She decided to ask her two friends, hoping they hadn't already fallen asleep.

"Hey, Julia's husband didn't talk about consequences or something?"

"No, my ears didn't hear that word," Odin said confidently, however Selena wasn't really convinced, she wanted to hear what Laslow thought.

"Um ... No Selena, I didn't hear that word either, you must have been making some ideas."

With the confirmation of her two friends Selena gave up the idea, she probably had imagined it, reassured she wished them good night again, and the three friends fell asleep quickly.

The moon was high in the clear sky, the night was peaceful as was the sleep of the three friends.


	4. The Great Windmire Contest

* * *

The next day, when the three friends woke up, they learned that Marc, Julia's husband, had to leave very early at dawn to settle affairs concerning the inn and their debts. Marc had not been able to warn his wife of his sudden departure, she noticed it when she woke up and that her husband was nowhere to be found in the inn. No one knew when he would return either.

At this moment the three friends were having lunch in the small kitchen accompanied by Julia. They were having a mundane, light discussion just enjoying the moment. The three friends were worried that Julia would only pretend to be fine, after all, the last time they'd seen her was the day before, just before she went upstairs in tears because of the problems with the inn, she wasn't yet aware that the three friends had, thanks to Marc, found a solution. A knowing look between the three friends was enough for them to decide to announce the good news. Laslow spoke;

"Hey, Julia" he paused, looking quickly at Odin and Selena, a smile on his lips. "We have good news for you.

With these words Julia tilted her head slightly to the side, a curious look on her face, waiting for him to continue.

"You have done so much for us that we want to help you with your debts, and so we decided that we would participate in the Great Windmire Contest! "Laslow had a big smile on his face, as did Selena and Odin. His smile narrowed a bit when he saw Julia staring at them with a dumbfounded look as if he had just said something terrible.

He tried to work things out by expanding a little more; “Don't worry, it's a well-considered decision.” himself saying these words didn't believe it, they had decided to participate on a whim, but hey, it's not like a tournament could go wrong. "Your Husband explained to us everything about the tournament, the importance of the tournament in the kingdom of Nohr to its functioning, including its reward. He explain absolutely everything. We know what we're doing, there's no need to worry. "

Laslow looked at Julia in silence waiting for a reaction, he suspected Julia would worry about them and try to convince them that they didn't need to feel pressured to help them, that's why he was doing his best to convince her.

"Really, we just want to help you, that makes us happy.” Selena spoke softly as she placed one of her hand on Julia's.

Julia then raised her head a little more, looking at the three friends one by one. "You ... are you really sure of yourself? Go that far..just to help us, are you really okay with that? ”

When the three friends nodded determinedly, Julia felt tears forming in her eyes as well as a grateful smile on her lips. "Thank you, ... Thank you very much, that means a lot to me, to us."

The three friends, then, moved to arrive next to Julia to surround her in a warm embrace.

* * *

It had now been a week since Odin, Selena and Laslow had arrived in Windmire, they were still staying in the little inn only with Julia, as her husband, Marc, had still not returned and had not been able to give any news.

Everything was going quite quietly until now.

After declaring that they would participate in the Great Windmire Contest, which they preferred to just call "the tournament," the next day the three of them were standing in front of the entrance to the grand arena, which was somewhere towards the east side of the town, to register. They were informed that they would receive a letter telling them in which section they would be accepted, so they gave the address of the inn as their place of residence.

The next day they each received a letter. Selena was in Section A, Odin in B and Laslow in C. In addition, the letter informed that the fighting would start on Wednesday of next week at 10 am.

During the week they took their bearings and slowly adapted to life in Nohr. They explored the city in more detail. Krakenburg Castle, where the royal family lived, was roughly in the center of town to the south, in a huge crater.

The city was in the shape of a circle surrounded by high walls, inside the city itself, there were other walls delimiting the poor and rich districts. The city seen from the sky looked somehow like a spider's web.

People from poor neighborhoods do not have the right to access rich neighborhoods without a pass. In addition, many poor neighborhoods are poorly attended with many landmarks of thieves and murderers. Selena, Laslow and Odin were quickly warned of areas where it is not good to venture into, or to stay there too long.

The inn they were staying in was certainly in a poor neighborhood, but not one that was poorly attended.

The three friends also inquired about their whereabouts, obtaining information from Julia as well as some of the inn's customers.

On the mainland were two main kingdoms, Nohr and Hoshido, there were a few other kingdoms but they were mostly small and therefore the three friends didn't find it very useful to retain them.

They were currently in the kingdom of Nohr, ruled by King Garon, the royal family had five children, Xander, the crown prince, then Camilla, Leo, Corrin and Elise. The kingdom of Hoshido was ruled by Queen Mikoto and the royal family had four children, Ryoma, the crown prince, then Hinoka, Takumi and Sakura.

The two kingdoms had a lot of tension between them, and fighting was not uncommon, it was not yet all-out war but it could become so at any time.

Also the kingdom of Nohr was certainly rich in appearance but great inequalities tore the country, all the money went to the nobles and the royal family leaving the commoners without money and with taxes to pay in addition. Money was hard to come by and all prices were expensive.

They didn't know much about Hoshido other than the rumors that everything was going well out there in the best of all possible worlds, without poverty and absurd taxes, ruled by a queen with a heart on her hand.

It is in particular the difference of situation between the two kingdoms which created tensions, Nohr reproached Hoshido to keep everything for themselves and to look down on the Nohrians.

And finally they learned that in Nohr it was always rather cold and the sky was almost always covered with black or gray clouds, and also that the vegetation in Nohr was dead almost everywhere.

The three friends thought they would have done better to go to Hoshido, but after spending some time with Julia and the others they finally felt good in Nohr.

At one point Selena asked Julia if she knew why people always looked at her hair in a weird way, Julia explained to her that it was because of their color, in Nohr people's hair are mostly in classic tones ranging from black to blond with some exceptions like for people with light blue hair. However, Selena's hair was red / burgundy, a color that was mostly found in Hoshido, indeed people's hair colors there were generally very colorful. Julia explained that the looks she was getting were from people who wondered if she was from Hoshido and if so why she was there. Some might even go so far as to think she was a Hoshido spy.

After a few more days in the city they decided that they could help out at the inn, which in the evening also served as a bar, Julia agreed with a big smile and explained to them what they were supposed to know and do.

Tonight was one of those days the three friends were helping out, it was Tuesday, the next day the tournament would start.

Laslow and Odin were supposed to take orders, while Selena helped in the kitchen. Obviously like every other day since they had started helping nothing was going as planned.

Laslow was too busy flirting with the young women he was supposed to take orders from, Odin spoke loudly and had a friendly argument with the bar clientele, over the fact that he was a real dark mage and that his clothes were NOT ridiculous, while Selena instead of helping in the kitchen spent her time yelling at her friends telling them to get back to work, chasing them when they ran away.

The bar clientele had become accustomed to the noisy trio and took a liking to this spectacle which always took place when they were helping. The inn, which was so quiet by day, became loud and laughing at night.

After closing time, the three friends apologized as usual for, once again, failing to do their jobs. Julia was always laughing when the trio apologized telling them that it was okay and that their little madness amused her and was welcome, that it brought a good atmosphere in the small inn that it didn't bother anyone.

After that they would usually go to bed without too much delay being exhausted, Laslow exhausted from having to flirt without being seen by Selena because otherwise he had to run for his life, Odin for screaming so much to defend his point and also exhausted from so much running trying to escape Selena, and Selena, she, exhausted from screaming and chasing after Laslow and Odin.

They wished each other good night and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

The next day Selena was woken up by an Odin too noisy for her liking;

"Wake up, my brave friend, it's time! Time for you to escape from sleep and stand up proudly to face your destiny which is-" he was cut off by a pillow falling in his face.

"I get up, I get up! So stop talking so loudly in the morning."

Odin opened his mouth to say that Selena was louder than him, but when he thought about it a little more he thought it was a bad idea and so closed his mouth. Selena stood up passing Odin, she retrieved her bag at the foot of her bed and went to the bedroom door, when she had her hand on the handle she turned around slightly looking at Odin.

"By the way ... thank you for waking me up."

Odin smiles. "Oh welcome my friend, nothing more nor-" he was cut off this time by the door closing behind Selena, Odin's smile diminished slightly before he finished what he was saying; "-mal…" He shook his head slightly, amused.

* * *

Selena walked quickly down the hallway heading for the stairs. She had woken up late this morning, she didn't like it. Well in normal times she wouldn't have complained, but since she was in Nohr she didn't like getting up late and for a very specific reason, the public baths.

Indeed the inn didn't have baths and therefore she had to go to the establishment of the public baths not far from the inn.

Selena wasn't exactly comfortable with bathing with other people. Of course when she was still in Ylisse it didn't bother her, she had known the people since her childhood but here she didn't know anyone, so she had made the decision to go there as soon as the establishment opened, to a time when there was no one.

Today was the first day she woke up late, so she was a bit apprehensive.

She quickly left the small inn, waving to Julia and Laslow who were busy making breakfast, telling them in the process to not wait for her.

She walked quickly in the street, already seeing the establishment of the public baths, to her surprise and to her happiness there did not seem to be many people.

She then entered and went directly to a counter, to pay for her bath. Even the rates for the baths were expensive and she was soon running out of her last gold coins. After paying she walked quickly to the women's bath.

She opened the locker room door and closed it gently behind her, it seemed to be no one there. She moved to the other end of the room and opened the door to the bath, glancing around to make sure no one was there.

When she was reassured she walked to a bench and began to undress, then wrapped a towel, which the person at the counter had given her, around her body and carefully folded her clothes before putting them away. She then tied her hair up in a combed / messy bun and finally headed for the baths.

Once she reached the water, she let her hand soak in it first before discarding her towel and laying it on the edge of the tub before entering the water, letting out a satisfied sigh, the water was at the perfect temperature.

She stood there for a while, enjoying the moment. Then she thought back to her friends, her parents and what they could have become, were they looking for them? They probably worried about them. She missed her country, and everyone, although she found herself really enjoying the days in the little inn she missed her country terribly.

She started to feel sad so she slapped her cheeks lightly, pulling herself out of her thoughts. She activated herself, continuing her toilet, she washed quickly then dried herself and dressed in her new clothes that she had bought a few days ago, she undid her bun and combed very carefully her hair. When finished she checked her appearance in one of the mirrors that where in the locker room. She grabbed her bag, put it on her shoulder, took the used towels and put them in the indicated place and left towards the inn.

When she finally returned she saw Laslow, Odin and Julia who were sitting at a table talking and having breakfast happily. She walked into the kitchen, after saying a collective "hi", and made herself a quick breakfast.

When she finished she took a chair and sat down with them, somewhat relieved that they hadn't finished eating. She took part in the conversation easily and ate in the collective good mood.

* * *

Some time had passed since lunch and it was now around 9 o'clock. The three friends were in their room talking about the tournament.

"The tournament is going to start soon, I know I shouldn't but ... I'm stressing a bit." As he said this Laslow was looking more at the wall than at his friends.

"Well you shouldn't! Beating your opponents is what we're best at, plus, the three of us practiced together just in case." Selena spoke sternly as she combed her hair, to be able to tie it into two twin piggy tails on either side of her head.

"Yeah I know it's just… I don't doubt my ability to fight, I'm just a little stressed out having to fight in front of all the people who will be in the stands."

"Don't worry my friend! Just focus on your opponents, Selena and I will be in these stands to encourage you not to despair you !"

Laslow chuckled slightly at the thought before responding a small thank you.

"Anyway..." Selena now had her two signature piggy tails on either side of her head, tied with the black ribbons she had bought. "Odin, are you sure you're good with magic?"

"Would you doubt Odin Dark's skills?" He puffed out his chest, one hand on it and the other on his tome of magic.

Selena winced a little. "Isn't it rather 'The Dark Mage' or 'The Great Odin'?"

Odin laughed loudly. "Nay, I'm Odin Dark, the one and only!"

"Finnnnnnee…" Selena gave up, rolling her eyes.

"Well, it's not that your little argument is uninteresting but we better leave now if we don't want to be late." As he spoke Laslow retrieved his sword and strapped it to his belt.

Laslow's outfit was the same as Selena's though in bluish tones, and instead of the black thighs and tunic he had blue / gray pants, and a white shirt, even the shield was the same with the only difference that the one he had was black.

The three friends got the things they needed, Odin was already ready to go he just take his tome of magic, Laslow and Selena put on their shields, gloves, and satchel, Selena then strapped her sword to her belt and they were all three ready.

They walked down the stairs, said goodbye to Julia and headed towards the arena.

* * *

They were currently in front of the arena, there were quite a few people, however much less than what they expected, they had been told that the tournament was known all over the country and even further, and yet the number of people present was not really impressive. A special entrance had been planned for the participants, allowing them easier access to the different rooms where they were expected according to their sections than if they had to enter through the same entrance as the spectators.

Odin walked in the lead quickly, closely followed by Laslow and Selena. They quickly saw the wicket, a man asked them their names, they introduced themselves one after the other. The man checked that they were on his list before giving them a badge with a number on it and showing them the way to go.

The corridor they were walking in was long and their every footstep echoed, they soon came to an intersection, each path indicating a different section.

"This is where our paths part then." Laslow looked at the three paths then at his friends.

"Pfff, no need to use such big words, it's not like we're going to be apart for long." Selena said with her usual scowl.

Laslow nudged her lightly before saying with a teasing smile; "Ohhhh ~ Could it be that you don't want to be apart from us for too long ... are you afraid of being alone?"

"Selena don't worry, whatever happens we will always find each other! We may be parting ways for now but we will meet again soon, don't doubt it!"

"Are you two going to stop ?!" Selena pulled away from them. "I don't care whether we're apart or not! I was just saying that we won't be apart for very long ... that's it!" She turned away from them crossing her arms over her chest still with the same annoyed pout however a slight blush could be seen on her face.

Odin and Laslow laughed at the scene that took place before Selena spoke again;

"Are you going to stop laughing !? Pfff, you piss me off."

And with that she started to leave not looking one last time at her friends but she still gave them a "good luck".

"Do you think she's really mad at us this time?" Laslow watched Odin with an amused smile on his lips as he waited for an answer.

"No, our Selena scream but don't bite, well ... I hope ..." And with that they laughed a few more seconds before wishing each other good luck and going their separate ways.

* * *

Selena walked quickly down the long hallway that seemed endless to her. She spoke to herself quietly, annoyed;

"Who they think they are always insinuating things that I didn't say ... they better not get beaten up these two idiots or they'll have to deal with me!"

Quickly she reached a room full of people, it looked like there were a hundred of them. People were talking to each other and a lot of groups had already formed, it was noisy.

Selena leaned against a wall away from the others not wanting to mingle and pretend to be interested in their lives. A few minutes passed before she heard a deep voice calling near her;

"Heyy sweetie what are you doing here all alone in a place like this?"

She ignored the voice not even turning her head to see who could speak so loudly, however a few seconds later she felt an arm pass around her shoulders and she heard the same voice again;

"Hey, you hadn't heard me pretty girl ?"

Selena quickly pulled away, glaring at the man who had invaded her personal space without her permission.

"Whoooa, calm pretty girl, I don't mean any harm to you, I was just wondering what a young woman like you was doing in a place like this, wouldn't you rather after this tournament go have a drink with me?" The man moved closer to Selena who in turn took two steps back creating more distance.

"Stay away from me, and stop talking to me, or you'll regret it !" Selena spoke in a blood-curdling tone, one hand on the hilt of his sword, the man began to sweat as he stepped back, mumbling apologies before quickly walking away.

A few people had watched the exchange between Selena and the man and began to whisper, glancing in Selena's direction before quickly pulling away if the latter saw them looking at her.

Minutes passed before a voice was heard over the speakers.

"HELLO EVERYONE, THE GREAT WINDMIRE CONTEST WILL START NOW! THIS YEAR WE WELCOME, LIKE EVERY YEAR, WARRIORS FROM EVERY CORNER OF THE COUNTRY. THERE ARE NO LESS THAN 300 PARTICIPANTS!

THE BIG CONTEST WILL BE HELD IN SEVERAL PARTS, TO BEGIN WE WILL ATTEND A BATTLE ROYAL, THE PARTICIPANTS WILL ENTER THIS ARENA AND THE GOAL WILL BE TO STAY THE LONGEST WITHOUT GETTING OUT OF THE RING BY THE OTHER PARTICIPANTS, WHEN THERE WILL BE ONLY 10 PARTICIPANTS LEFT IN THE ARENA THE BATTLE ROYAL WILL BE CONSIDERED COMPLETED!

SO NOW IF YOU WANT WE WILL BEGIN! MAKE SOME NOISE FOR SECTION A! "

After that the screams of the spectators were heard and the large door at the end of the room opened. Participants began to walk towards the now open door, Selena sneaking discreetly through the crowd. When she was outside the sun blinded her, luckily for her, the spectators weren't really noisy, which surprised her but she didn't complain, at least it kept her ears from hurting.

She stepped into the ring in the center of the arena, as did everyone else present.

Some of the participants were waving to the spectators, Selena, she, swept the bleachers looking for her friends when she could not find them she told herself they must be in a room similar to the one she had been in a few minutes before.

She looked at the stands, which weren't really full, maybe just halfway, one last time seeing Julia and a few hostel regulars in the front row, she nodded at them quickly, not sure if they would see her from where they were.

The host spoke again;

"WELL NOW WE WILL BEGIN ... I DECLARE THIS BATTLE ROYAL ... BEGUN!"

And with that the audience shouted and clapped a little, Selena drew her sword and stood on her guard on the lookout for the slightest movement, the participants began to fight with each other, the battle royale was just beginning and yet already a good number of participants had been eliminated.

Selena could judge the majority of her opponents at a glance and there was definitely something wrong. This tournament was supposed to be a huge event, people were supposed to come from all over the country to participate or attend and yet there were only 300 participants and on top of that the majority of these were only amateurs some had probably never even touched a weapon in their entire life, and besides, only half of the stands were full. It didn't make sense. Selena, Laslow and Odin were participating only in order to get the reward which was huge, but why organize such a big tournament with such a big reward when the participants didn't even know, or barely, how to fight.

Selena didn't understand and it pissed her off, the few people who tried to push her out of the ring regretted it bitterly, suffering all her frustration through her punches as she kicked them out of the ring.

The battle royale continued and the crowd had stopped screaming for a while now. These tournament was boring, and it pissed off Selena, even if only the reward interested her she wouldn't have said no to a few interesting fights, if only to get her out of this deadly boredom, there was no beautiful or suspenseful fights, it was just a ridiculous battle royale with no strong emotions.

After a good half hour there were only a handful of people left, Selena quickly counted the number of participants remaining, thirteen. For this battle to be over, three more had to be eliminated.

The ring seemed ridiculously large now, everyone was scattered around the ring leaving too much distance between each participant.

No one was moving as the minutes went by, Selena got tired of it, if no one made up their mind to move she would force them to do so. She gauged the remaining people, her gaze fell on a group of three young boys, they were the kind of people who had never touched a weapon in their life, Selena sighed and put away her sword, she approached them and when she got close enough so they could hear her without her needing to shout she spoke;

"Hey! You three there" her voice was harsh and the three young boys jumped in surprise and fear, they turned slowly, shaking, one stepped forward before saying;

"We...?"

Selena raised an eyebrow at the question. "Obviously, what a stupid question!" She was still getting closer to them. "Get out of the ring yourself before I make you do it, there are thirteen of us and this stupid battle royale won't be over until we're down to ten, so sorry guys but it's over for you."

She stopped in front of them waiting for them to do as she told them. However, they did not move. Selena grew impatient, her arms crossed a finger tapping nervously on her arm, the seconds passed but no one moved, she sighed in annoyance before walking towards the trio grabbing two by the collars of their tops before throwing them away. out of the ring, she then turned to the one who remained.

"So ...? What do you choose?" She got no response so she did the same thing she had done previously.

A few seconds later the host picked up the microphone.

"EH WELL THAT CONCLUDES THE BATTLE ROYAL OF SECTION A, MAXIMUM OF APPLAUSE FOR OUR WARRIORS WHO HAVE BEEN QUALIFIED FOR THE CONTINUATION OF THIS TOURNAMENT PLEASE!"

The crowd shouted and applauded a few more times, though less than the previous times.

"AND NOW WE WILL WELCOME SECTION B!"

Selena no longer cared about her surroundings. She walked away from the ring, back inside the building. She walked through the hallways looking for the exit, which she quickly found. She passed the ticket office again quickly asked the man if she could go to the stands to see the fights of the other sections, the man replied that she could not go without a ticket, she had no money on her to buy one, so she just decided to go back to the inn.

* * *

Once back at the hostel she went to the kitchen to get something to eat before sitting down at the counter. The inn was empty, it was the first time she had seen it like this, usually there was always Julia, or the people who worked there, but not at the moment, it was empty and silent.

The inn had been exceptionally closed so that everyone could go see and cheer Odin, Selena and Laslow.

Selena found this silence heavy so she quickly finished eating, did her dishes and went up to her room. Once she was seated on her bed, she took off her boots, gloves as well as her belt with her sword and her satchel, she put her things at the foot of her bed before moving to open the window, she remained there for a moment looking outside, from the inn you couldn't hear the noise coming from the arena, not even a little.

Selena sighed and lay down on her bed deciding that she could take a nap since she had nothing else to do. She closed her eyes and let sleep take her away.

* * *

She was awakened by noises coming from below, she got up slowly, rubbing her eyes before looking out the window, it was evening.

"Shit! I didn't want to sleep that much…"

She stood up quickly and checked her appearance in the mirror that had been set up on the small desk, except for her hair which were slightly messy she was presentable. She quickly fix her two piggy tails before leaving her room and going downstairs.

Arrived downstairs, she saw Julia, Laslow and Odin sitting at the counter with a mug of beer in front of them, no one else was there because Julia decided to leave the inn closed to let the three young people rest. Selena moved closer to them and sat down between Laslow and Odin.

"Ah sweetheart, you are awake, did you sleep well?" Selena responded to Julia with a nod.

"Do you want a drink?" Julia was already heading for the kitchen when she asked the question.

"Yes why not." Selena replied with a small smile.

"Fine, I'll bring this to you right now." And with that Julia disappeared completely into the kitchen before coming back with a mug and filling it, she then put it in front of Selena. "There you go, the miss is served."

Selena thanked Julia before taking a sip of her drink.

"Soooooo ...?" Laslow began.

"What?" Selena looked up at him.

"You're not gonna ask us how our royal battles went?"

Selena stared at him for a few more moments before her gaze returned to her drink, letting out a little "no" before taking a sip of her drink again. Then she ended up saying, since no one was speaking anymore;

"I mean ... I know you both won." When no one said anything she looked at her friends one by one before saying; "You won right ?!"

"Obviously yes, the three of us triumphed over our opponents without difficulty, sending them out of the ring one after the other!"

"The three of you were great, I have to admit I wasn't sure you would have a chance to win when you said you would participate but now I'm sure you can!"

"Hehe, I'm not sure how we're supposed to take it but… thanks?" Said Laslow with a small smile, he paused a little before continuing;

"However, there is no reason to be proud."

"That's for sure ... it's almost humiliating to participate in this tournament ..." Selena said rolling her eyes.

"My mind and body crave more challenges, I am not satisfied with this tournament, it is not suitable for Odin Dark!"

"What's the matter with you kids? We're supposed to celebrate your qualification at the next part of the tournament, but you don't look really happy about it ..." Julia was confused by Selena's reaction, as well as Odin's and Laslow's.

"It's just… it's weird…" Selena tried to find the right words, but couldn't really find it.

Julia just looked at the three young ones before asking, "What do you mean?"

The three friends looked at each other for a moment before Laslow spoke; "This tournament is supposed to be a huge competition isn't it? With warriors coming to compete against each other from all over the country." Laslow paused waiting for a reaction from Julia who nodded to confirm what Laslow was saying, so he continued;

"And the reward for the three winners is enormous ... yet there were only 300 participants at the start and the 3 quarters of them had surely never held a weapon in their hands before today ... it's just ... weird. "

"Ohhh I see, so that's what was bothering you, let me explain." Julia paused a little to get their full attention. "The Great Windmire Contest hasn't always been as ... well ... boring as it is today ... it's because of the quarrels between Nohr and Hoshido that he became like that. A lot of people were recruited to become soldiers and go to fight, soldiers spend their days on the battlefield or in training, and this work is very well pay, so you understand that they are not going to participate in this contest to fight again, which only leaves people who lack money and who are ready to do anything to win it, even if it means fighting while they've never held a weapon in their entire lives. And since the tournament has been a tradition that has been around for decades it can't just be done away with like that. "

This left a blank in the inn before Laslow spoke; " It's sad."

"It's not like we can change anything about it, at least it makes us an easy victory!" Said Selena after she finished her drink in one go. "Well that's not all that but I'm still tired, I'm going to go back to bed, see you tomorrow everyone, good night." And with that she went upstairs.

Odin and Laslow knew Selena didn't want to act like she was indifferent to this whole war thing, she just preferred not to talk about it, it reminded her too much of their chaotic and painful past.

Odin and Laslow stayed downstairs chatting with Julia for a few more minutes before finally going up to bed.

* * *

It was the next day, in the morning, Selena, Laslow and Odin were once again separated and had no opportunity to see each other. The day before had eliminated a lot of candidates which left only 30 at the start of the day, 10 per section, the second part of the tournament had started in the morning at 10 am, the goal this time was to beat his opponent in a one-on-one fight. Two numbers were drawn, and candidates with matching badge numbers were to step onto the arena.

Fortunately for the trio they did not have to fight against each other, their fights were fast, always over in less than a minute. None of the three had the will to fight knowing that their opponent wasn't someone who really wanted to fight but someone who was only trying to make money in order to survive.

The fighting continued, as there were very few participants there was only one fight per person. The spectators present were less and less noisy, in fact there was barely a quarter of the stands that were full.

* * *

It was afternoon now, there were only 15 participants left, the tournament was sad, even the host no longer pretended that the fights were interesting and the audience was almost non-existent.

The tournament was coming to a close with the third and final game, five numbers would be drawn and they would have to compete against each other until only one person remained in the ring.

Selena, Odin and Laslow crossed their fingers not to have to fight each other, the three of them needed to win the contest to have the necessary sum to help the inn, luck was on their side since they did not fall in the same group.

Selena has to fight first, when the fight began and she drew her sword, her four opponents backed up in fear, the fight ended as quickly as it had started, leaving Selena alone in the ring.

The fights of Odin and Laslow ended in the same way.

The host then called the winners to come into the ring.

Selena appeared first, soon followed by Odin and Laslow. They approached the host.

"MAXIMUM NOISE FOR OUR THREE WINNERS PLEASE!"

only a few applause here and there was heard. Selena rolled her eyes before saying;

"I'm sure you can see that nobody cares, so just give us our reward so we can get out of here!"

For once Odin and Laslow didn't contradict Selena, nor apologize for her rudeness, because they too wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible.

The host swallows hard before nodding and handing to each of them a bag containing 80,000 ecus.

Once the three friends received their rewards they left for the inn.

* * *

The trip home had been rather quiet until Laslow spoke;

"Well ... it was really a sad tournament ... not at all like at Regna Ferox ..."

"Yeah for sure ... I almost feel ashamed to have participated in something that boring ... "Selena said, kicking a rock with her foot.

"But you are forgetting something my friends, we did not participate in this tournament for the glory but to have enough money to fulfill a noble task which is to help the people who have helped us!"

"We know Odin, we know ... it's just that if we could have skipped the step of boredom and humiliation it would have been much better ..."

"Are you not exaggerating a little Selena? Indeed it was clearly not very flattering but it was not something humiliating either. "

"For me it was!" She said annoyed.

"Fine ... fine ... okay." Laslow decided to give up.

They continued to talk quietly until they got to the inn.

* * *

Once there, Odin opened the door widely.

"We are back, proud and victorious!" Odin backed up his words by extending his arm, the one that held the huge bag containing his reward, 80,000 ECU.

"Ahh you're back, all three of you and you've won, I'm happy, although not surprised. So come and sit down and put those bags down too, they must be heavy!"

The three friends smiled forgetting all their annoyance and bad humor from the tournament in front of Julia's usual good humor.

They put their bags on a nearby table and walked over to sit at the counter but were cut halfway by Julia who held the three of them in a tight embrace.

"Ohh thank you so much, I'm so happy ... you can't even imagine how happy I am. Thanks to you we are going to be able to keep our inn and get off to a good start. I am so grateful to you!" Julia hadn't let go of them for a single moment while she was speaking, the trio had hugged her back by wrapping their arms around her too. They stayed in this position a few moments before Julia released her grip, taking a few steps back, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes and sniffing lightly.

"Oh Julia no need to cry, it was normal for us to help you and your husband, after all you've done for us, it really was nothing." Selena spoke with a soft smile, then she looked at her friends, indirectly telling them to say something to Julia.

"My brave friend here is completely right, you needed help, we weren't just going to let you down like that, it was our duty to help you!"

"Plus it was not much for us to win this tournament, especially when three quarters of the participants didn't know how to fight."

Julia wiped away her tears, thanking them again before speaking again; "Maybe it was nothing for you but a lot of people wouldn't have agreed to participate in this tournament, especially with such obligations if we come out on top."

The three friends exchanged a confused look between them, before Laslow spoke an awkward smile on his lips, "obligations ? What obligations ?"

Julia, who until now had her head slightly lowered, immediately raised it, looking at the three young people one by one. "Do you mean you don't know what I'm talking about? You don't know what these obligations are? What are the consequences?"

When the three friends shook their heads negatively Julia's face twisted, her smile faded and her eyes widened. "Ohh my poor children ..." was all she could say.

Selena grew impatient and was starting to get worried so she spoke, "What ?! What are those obligations ?!"

Julia swallows hard before speaking, "the three winners of the contest must become the new retainers of the royal children."

At the realization of what Julia was saying, Selena, Odin and Laslow's eyes widened. When Selena could speak again she cried out;

"EXCUSE ME, BECOME WHAT EXACTLY ?!"

At the same time the door of the inn swung open, giving way to a breathless and sweaty Marc. He probably ran, and from the desperate look he was wearing he had heard Selena's surprise from the other side of the door.

All eyes turned to him, in a mixture of confusion and despair. He had arrived too late, he knew it.


	5. The royal family

* * *

Selena, Laslow and Odin were in shock, they would have to become the new retainers of the royal children. Nobody spoke, it was a total silence, Marc who had just entered didn't know what to say, Julia looked at him desperately not wanting to believe what was happening now.

Marc understood the situation as soon as he arrived, Selena, Odin and Laslow had won the tournament, and now they had to suffer the consequences. Marc looked at them with a distraught and sorry air. If only he could have come back sooner, if only he hadn't been forced to leave the inn without being able to tell anyone or even to leave a message.

But no, shortly after the three friends had gone to their room, the night when they talked about the tournament, a member of the state had come knocking on the door of the inn, forcing Marc to follow him. Marc had been taken to a nearby town, where the various meetings or advice for everything related to the hotel industry took place. Marc really had done his best to get back on time, but the town was a few days on horseback from Windmire and the negotiations had taken longer than expected.

It was way too late now. Marc didn't know what to say to them, as if an apology would suffice.

As he opened his mouth, not knowing exactly what to say, three knocks on the door were heard.

Although the seconds were passing by no one moved. The door opened and a handful of people entered, they were not hosts of the inn, they were soldiers of the Nohrian army.

There were eight of them, all in the traditional uniform of Nohrian soldiers, blue canvas pants accompanied by a short-sleeved top also blue as well as the scarf which covered a good part of their face, stopping just below the nose, with some pieces of iron armor, a breastplate accompanied by a brown belt at the waist, boots reaching to the knees and a large pointed helmet curved outwards on the sides, as well as a round shield hanging from one of their arms, leather gloves that reached their elbows and a spear in one of their hands.

They were all standing to attention. One of the soldiers, the one in the middle, stepped forward and spoke;

"We're looking for a certain Selena, a certain Laslow as well as a certain Odin…" He stopped, turning to the other soldiers and whispered something, then, he turned around a few seconds later, facing Julia, Marc and the trio again, he then speaking again;

"And a certain Odin Dark, have you seen them?"

At the mention of Odin Dark's name, Selena shook her head and sighed, nudging her friend in the ribs then whispered annoyingly; "Really? Odin Dark ?! Did you really had to do it, can't you just settle for Odin?" Her friend looked at her confused, not seeming to understand why Selena was bothered, he was about to speak when the soldier who had spoken just before was heard clearing his throat. Selena and Odin instantly fell silent and refocused on the soldiers.

Laslow pointed to himself and his three friends and spoke awkwardly; "uh ... we are the people you ... are looking for ..."

The same man who had spoken previously turned to the three friends and reached out, holding an open letter, cleared his throat and then spoke;

"Good evening, the following people; Selena, Odin Dark, and Laslow, are invited to Krakenburg Castle due to their victory in the Great Windmire Contest. They will be escorted to the castle where they will meet the king to be named as new retainers of the royal children, Xander, Camilla and Leo. "

The soldier closed his letter and bowed quickly before speaking again;

"Now, please follow us. "

The three friends looked at each other not knowing what to do, they didn't want to leave but the three were sure their opinion didn't matter. A few seconds passed but no one moved.

Six soldiers then approached, each taking an arm of one of the three friends and forcing them to walk towards the exit.

"Let go of me! Don't touch me! I can walk on my own!" Selena struggled, trying to nudge the soldiers holding her, her actions did not make the soldiers let go, on the contrary, they tightened their grip on her arms.

Everything happened very quickly, for a moment they were at the inn, the next second, they were on the way to the castle in a coach, without having the time to take a last look at Julia and Marc.

* * *

The trip was silent, long and painful for the three friends. the windows were closed so it was impossible to see the outside, but still open enough for the light to pass slightly so the vehicle wasn't plunged into darkness.

Long minutes passed and no words had been said, only the sounds of horses galloping on the hard ground and a few whinnies from time to time could be heard, the three friends shared silent glances between them, unsure if they were allowed to speak or not.

After a short time, the coach slows down before coming to a complete stop. Soldiers opened the doors and waved for Selena, Laslow and Odin to get down.

The guards this time didn't grab them by the arms but positioned themselves on either side of them and one of the soldiers was standing at the front of the line and another at the end of the line. leaving no loophole, they were supposed to be guests or at least future servants, but they were more treated like prisoners.

They kept moving forward until they reached a bridge, it was narrow and had no barriers on its sides, when you looked up you could see the sky, but above all you realized how far away it was, the three friends were currently in the crater, in which Krakenburg Castle was built, on one of its bridges visible from the outside, they had no idea how they got there or of the way you entered the castle from the outside. During the trip they knew when they were going down or not, but it did not help to understand how and by what paths they got there.

The entire crater was covered with stone walls and red stones illuminating the walls. In the center was the castle connected by bridges from the pit walls, the castle was large, many windows were built letting the red / orange lights escape from the castle.

Selena, Laslow, and Odin were currently on one of the highest bridges, giving them access to the upper floors of the castle, if they looked down they could see the rest of the building sprawling out far below them.

The castle was not welcoming, even terrifying, like the kingdom of Nohr. The three friends were uncomfortable here and wanted nothing more than to return to the inn or better to their home in their world. They continued to move forward, finally entering the building through a large door. The guards still doesn't speak, only leading them, with a quick step, to a unknown destination to the three friends.

They were currently passing through long and endless corridors, they all looked alike, the floor was paved with red / orange bricks while the walls were made in stone, in a symmetrical architecture, with a regular pattern. The walls were all in relief, numerous stone columns with golden patterns adorned the walls, a golden candlestick hung from each of them. The rest of the walls were green at the base and red from the middle to the top, with numerous embossed silver designs. In addition, red banners were hung in a regular pattern on the walls.

The hallways were narrow and all looked the same, looking like a labyrinth and echoing every step, when you left one hallway you only found yourself in a slightly larger or smaller one which sometimes ended in large double black with gold and silver patterns iron doors.

From the little that they saw the castle was lavish and showed that the royal family was really wealthy, but it remained dark, although there were many stained glass windows and lighting as well as eye-catching colors, there was no one in the corridors, nor sounds except for the sound of footsteps, the castle seemed dead.

After walking for a few minutes they came into a huge hall, huge stone stairs stood before them carved in the middle by a huge stone pillar, the stairs were covered with sumptuous red carpets with a golden pattern and at the end of the staircase was found a huge iron door, the room although huge included nothing but candlesticks and other lights here and there.

The soldiers motioned for them to follow them as they began to climb the stairs, when they finally got to the top of the stairs one of the soldiers approached the door and spoke loudly;

"My king, the winners of the Great Windmire Contest have arrived."

There was a pause before a voice sounded, informing them that they could enter.

Two soldiers opened the door, each taking a clapper, and the rest of the soldiers brought in Selena, Laslow and Odin.

They entered the room which they identified as the throne room, it was large, there was the same lavish carpet that led from the door to the throne in a straight line, as well as on the staircase that led to the latter. The ceiling was high with some sort of emblem representing something above the throne. The back walls of the room were covered with large branches and dead lianas, and on the sides of the room were other entrances.

On the throne at the back of the room was an elderly person sitting with an evil gaze. The person identified as King Garon was standing there, higher than everyone else in the room, all in black armor with gold patterns and a fur cape behind his back. The man was old, had a wrinkled face, long white hair that tucked into the frill of his armor, and a long white beard reaching up to his upper chest. On his head was his crown, black, ending in spikes, a red / brown stone hanging from it resting on his forehead.

Selena, Odin and Inigo walked cautiously, pushed forward by the guards. They ended up in front of the stairs and stopped there. They knelt in line Laslow in the middle and Selena and Odin on his side, not daring to move or speak.

A guard stepped in front of them and spoke;

"My king, here are the three winners of the Great Windmire Contest, Selena, Laslow and Odin Dark." As he spoke, he pointed to the three friends. He then bowed and stepped back behind the trio.

The king remained seated on his throne and made no sign, he just looked at the three friends one by one, giving them a hard and stern look. After a few moments, he turned his head to the side and said a word, "Iago!" He waved his hand in the same direction, then footsteps were heard and a man appeared.

He was wearing predominantly black clothes with hues of red and gold, gold metal boots and gloves, and a large cape was on his back, with a trail of red feathers running down from his collar to the bottom of his back. Half of his face was hidden by a golden mask that continued in lenght and long black hair descended over his shoulders.

He bowed to the king then turned to the three friends.

"So here are the three winners of this year eh ... hehehe." His laugh was mocking. "Well, let's get it over with quickly, you already know why you're here anyway." The man named Iago looked the three friends up and down with an evil smile on his face, then chuckled softly.

"Iago! Hurry up and finish this, you're wasting my time!" The king had screamed, surprising Iago who screamed in fear and curled up before getting up and speak again.

"Hmm ... well, so now you are going to become the new retainers of the royal children; Xander the crown prince, Camilla the first princess of Nohr and Leo the second prince of Nohr. We're going to skip the whole tribute ceremony, It's not like it's really necessary, after all you won't be staying here too long… hehehe… ”he couldn't help but laugh mockingly before resuming,“ All you need to know is that you will have to obey whatever orders your masters give you without arguing, well if you don't want to end up in the dungeons or executed.

At the word executed the three friends swallowed, exchanging glances, they weren't exactly sure what to think. Right now a lot of things were mixed up in their heads, they were going to become or maybe had become the new retainers of the royal children. And if they didn't obey their orders, they would end up executed and eventually the man named Iago made it clear that they weren't going to stay long, what did that mean. They were annoyed with the way they were treated and how Iago made fun of them, but also happy and relieved that they didn't have to stay in this castle indefinitely but also worried about the cause of that reason.

"Now, please lead them to their masters." Iago spoke to the soldiers. Once finished, he turned to the king, bowed and left in the same direction he had arrived.

The soldiers bowed and then left the room, the trio followed them. Once the doors closed behind them, the soldiers all heaved a long sigh of relief, some even had their hands over their hearts. During this time, the three friends watched the behavior of the soldiers slightly surprised, not because of their relief at having moved away from the king but more because it was the first time that they see them being "themselves" with emotions and not just being straight and silent, carrying out commands without any comment. The fact that they show emotions prompted Laslow to speak;

"Does not being in the presence of your beloved king give you so much relief?" He was speaking mischievously with a small, amused smile on his lips. At his question, the soldiers straightened up, as if they realized the presence of the trio.

"Don't repeat that to anyone or we're over!" Concern was on their faces, the colors flowing from their faces as they probably imagined what would happen to them if the three friends repeated their actions.

Selena took a few steps forward from where she was, standing in front of the soldier who had just spoken, arms crossed over her chest, an eyebrow raised and an annoyed pout on her face. "Ohh ~, do you really think we're not going to say anything after the way you treated us?"

The soldier stepped back, shaking, turning even whiter, if that was even possible, as Selena moved closer. Laslow grabbed her shoulders and pulled her gently back, then looked at the soldier and spoke; "haha she's obviously laughing, we won't say anything, don't worry." everyone sighed in relief as Selena stared at Laslow. “No offense, but your king doesn't look very nice…”

"Obviously, if we want anything, it's not to worry you, brave people. So get those scared expressions off your faces." Odin had also stepped forward after receiving a look calling for help from Laslow, he put an arm around Selena's shoulders and laughed.

Selena was even more pissed off than she was at first but she contented herself with a long annoyed sigh before freeing herself from the grip of her two friends, she moved away to lean against a wall. . before looking at the soldiers with a stern gaze. "Fine ! Anyway, are you going to lead us to our future bosses or whatsoever yes or no ?!"

The soldiers straightened up and scoffed, "Yes of course! It's over there, please follow us." And with that, they went in another direction. They took different corridors although none stood out from the others. And after walking for a while, they finally stop in front of a double iron gate with golden patterns.

One of the soldiers opened the door and entered followed by the rest of the group, they came to a medium sized room that looked like an office, the floor entirely covered of stone with gold patterns and the walls were dark, one or two candlesticks were hanging from the ceiling, a large desk was at the end of the room, centered, in front of a large fireplace, when you entered the room, to the left, were two sofas facing each other separated by a coffee table. In addition the libraries covered the walls but otherwise there wasn't much else.

In the room were four unknown people of the three friends, a young girl was sitting on the desk, she had blonde hair braided in two twin piggy tails on either side of her head and she was wearing a dress in black and white tones with hint of pink. She was swinging her legs happily while humming a soft tune, behind her was an older man sitting in the office chair focused on the pile of documents in front of him not seeming to care about his surroundings, he too had blond hair, a crown on his forehead and was dressed in black armor with gold patterns with some purple and red at some places.

On one of the sofas were two people, one was a woman with long wavy purple hair with a strand hiding one side of her face, she wore an armor in the same style as the person at the desk, but her chest and pelvis were much more exposed, revealing her forms, she was talking happily to the young man next to her, he had short blonde hair, he was also wearing an armor in the same style as the other people with some differences.

When they realized that they were no longer alone in the room they stopped their activity and all got up to find themselves more or less in front of their guests, except for the young girl who remained seated on the desk a large and innocent smile on the lips.

The soldiers and the trio bowed politely before getting up, a soldier stepped forward and spoke; "Your Highnesses, here are the three winners of the Great Windmire Contest, your new retainers ; Laslow, Odin Dark and Selena." He said pointing to the three friends, the young blond haired man winced slightly at Odin Dark's name but made no comment, the purple haired woman was smiling softly while the oldest man had an expressionless face.

"It is a pleasure to meet you." Said the three friends simultaneously, although Laslow kept up the momentum; "And it is a great pleasure to serve such a beautiful lady as you, Your Highness." He said to the purple haired woman with a slight wink, the latter just laughing softly. "Well, what a charmer."

The soldier who had spoken previously cleared his throat and continued, "Laslow will serve Prince Xander, Odin Dark will serve Prince Leo, and Selena will serve Princess Camilla."

Laslow looked slightly disappointed when he heard the soldier speak but quickly found his smiley face not wanting to give to his new master a bad image of himself.

"Alright now" the soldier turned to the three friends. "You're going to pledge your allegiance to your new-"

"It's okay, you don't have to have a whole ceremony thing or anything, it's not like they're going to be here long." The soldier was cut off by the blond haired young man who looked annoyed.

The oldest man walked over and put a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "Excuse my brother for his harsh words, but it is true that there is no need to dwell further on the subject."

"Very well my lord." Was all the soldier said before politely bowing again.

The three friends were having a hard time keeping up with everything and it annoyed Selena so she spoke, "Uh ... excuse me but, why are we not gonna stay very long?" Her tone was slightly obnoxious but when she realized it she was already done speaking, she just hoped the princes and princesses wouldn't mind.

The purple haired woman chuckled lightly before speaking, "Please don't play stupid sweetie, I mean you realize that the tournament isn't the same anymore, before where the participants who came out victorious were Incredible fighters now it's more the lucky ones who don't have more value than the others, ...no offense. "

The oldest man continued; "However, this year, since the tensions between Hoshido and Nohr are more present than ever and that we could, at any time, go into all-out war, it was considered essential that all the royal children have two retainers, and as tradition dictates it was decided that the winners of this year's Great Windmire Contest would become the new retainers. However, the participants are not great warriors, so of course, neither are the winners, but we cannot just send you back like that, it would not be good for our image so you will remain at our service for about two weeks and after that you will be fired with the excuse that your service did not satisfy us, obviously you will receive a reward for your silence. The reward is a large sum of money so everyone can be satisfied."

The three friends finally figured out their situation and why they will not have to serve the royal children for very long, it was just kind of an act, even though that statement filled them with immense relief, Selena, her, was still bitter at the affront she had suffered after the man's words. She took a few steps forward with a stern look.

"Excuse me but, please don't insult us, we have absolutely nothing to do with those incompetents who were participating in the tournament and… ”

She was cut off by Laslow's hand resting on her mouth preventing her from saying another word. Laslow then, quickly opened his mouth to apologize for the attitude and words of his friend but it was too late, the young man with the blond hair spoke ;

"Pff, if you think you are superior because you won the contest, you are ridiculous, no one with some common sense would brag about such a thing , but if you want to play this game, I could lock you in the dungeons. ”

A mocking smile and a superior look appeared on his face as he also took a few steps forward. Laslow gave Odin a glance for help before speaking, an awkward smile on his lips;

"Whooo, haha, she was just jocking around, she wasn't serious, please your highnesses forgive her ... haha ... she didn't mean anything bad ..."

"What my companion said is true, in no case she did want to offend you, great and respectable masters, I appeal to your generosity to forgive her. ”

The young man looked at the trio for a long time before sighing in annoyance. "I'll let that pass this time, but it will be the one and only time."

"Thank you Your Highness!" Said Odin and Laslow simultaneously bowing respectfully and forcing Selena to do the same. The woman with purple hair laughed softly. "Well, that might be less boring than I thought ..."

A few seconds passed before the oldest man walked over to Laslow, when he was a few feet away from him, he spoke, " So you are Laslow, ...am I correct ?"

The latter nodded and so the man continued to speak, " I am Xander, crown prince of the kingdom of Nohr, although you probably already know that, it is a pleasure to have you as my retainer even if it is for a short time."

"The pleasure is shared my Lord." Laslow bowed again to his new master. Then he looked at his employer who had a slight polite smile on his face, soon after he apologized and left the room explaining that he had to take care of some business without expanding more.

In the room, there were only the trio, the soldiers and three other people. The young man, so, the second prince of Nohr, Leo, looked Odin up and down, a complicated expression on his face. Noticing this, Odin bowed slightly to the prince. "My name is Odin Dark and I am now at your service Your Highness, it's a pleasure!" Leo didn't answer, he just stared at Odin and finally let out a sigh. "whatever, just don't bother me." And with that, he left the room.

Odin wasn't sure what to do now, he was slightly disappointed that his master was showing so little interest in him. "Don't blame him, he doesn't mean bad or anything, he's just like that with a lot of people, don't take it personally." The words came in a childish voice, it was the young girl, still sitting on the desk, who had spoken with a smile on her lips. Odin nodded in the direction of the young girl.

Selena turned to the purple haired woman, this latter was already looking at her curiously. After a few seconds the tall woman approached Selena, once she stepped in front of her, she lifted her chin with two fingers and leaned forward slightly to make up for the difference in height. They were very close to each other, their faces only inches apart. They stayed in that position for a few seconds, the tall woman watching Selena's face intently as Selena stood still not knowing what to do, she wanted to step back and yell at the woman not to invade her personal space but there was had something intimidating about her that kept her from moving.

The woman nodded, a smile on her lips. "You are absolutely adorable." And with that, she removed her fingers from Selena's chin, who took the opportunity to immediately take a few steps back. At Selena's action, the woman laughed softly. "It is a pleasure to have such a lovely person to be my retainer."

Selena was silent for a few seconds before finally speaking in a hesitant voice; "The pleasure is shared..?" She wasn't going to say anything more until she remembered to who she was talking to; "-Lady Camilla."

She wasn't used to show respect to nobility people and it didn't come naturally to her, she hoped her lady wouldn't mind it.

And with that their conversation was over, Camilla turned to the girl, "So Elise, do you still want to have tea with your big sister ?"

The young girl beamed upon hearing those words, she jumped from the desk and ran towards Camilla grabbing her hand and pulling it towards the door. "Yes! I would always want to spend time with you !" And with that, they disappeared from the room.

Silence fell in the room, the only sound we could hear was the sound of Camilla's heel snapping as she walked away with Elise.

"Well ... that was... special?" Said Laslow unsure of his choice of words, his two friends nodding not sure what to say or what to think.

A throat clearing pulled them out of their thoughts. "I will now take you to your quarters, the things you left at the inn should have arrived there by now."

* * *

Selena was currently in a medium sized room somewhere in the castle, the bedroom contained a double brown wooden bed, a nightstand on either side of the bed of the same material as the latter, on the ceiling was a candlestick which was probably there just for decoration, a desk and a chair were in one of the corners of the room, in addition there was a large wardrobe and a large mirror, finally there was a large window overlooking the walls of the crater.

Selena was lying on her bed, her bag containing her things next to her, when the soldiers brought her here the bag was already there. It was only the start of the evening and yet she was completely exhausted, she didn't even bother to change into more comfortable clothes, she only took off her shoes, shield, belt with her sword and her satchel and gloves, and let everything fall next to her bed with a thud before crawling under the clean sheets and falling asleep.

She wasn't sure if her friends' personal quarters were far from hers or not but she was far too exhausted to care, all she wanted was a good night of sleep.

* * *

She had woken up slowly, the room was still quite dark even though it must have been in the early afternoon, due to the bad weather in Nohr. She had a good night despite the fact that she had wake up in the middle of the night, it was the first night she spent away from her friends and although she would never admit it, she wasn't so reassured to be in a completely unfamiliar environment without them.

She stretched and stood up, got her gloves and boots back, combed her hair, then tied them and once ready she headed for the door. The day before the guards had quickly explained to her the layout of the castle, so she was confident when she left her room and started to walk in one direction, however the more the minutes passed the more annoyed she became, she got lost in the endless corridors.

She let out a long sigh of annoyance while hitting the wall with her fist, she was losing patience.

"Hey Selena !"

At the sound of the voice she turned to find Laslow and Odin a little further down the hall with their arms filled with bread.

"I knew it was you, I could recognize your sighs anytime."

"Pff, don't make fun of me, it's not my fault, it's just impossible to navigate through all these fucking hallways!" She then crossed her arms annoyed and walked towards her friends.

"Ohh ~ so then, you were lost..pff..hahaha" he had tried to hold back his laughter but couldn't help it.

"WHAT? No I wasn't-, ... whatever!" The blush deepened on her cheeks as Laslow continued to laugh.

"Are you going to stop laughing ?!" Laslow wiped the corners of his eyes, and finally stopped laughing.

"Anyway, what's up with all the bread ?"

"Oh ! We took that in the kitchen and since we hadn't seen you there we thought we would bring you something to eat but we couldn't bring the whole meal so we just took some bread. You want some ?" Laslow handed a loaf of bread to Selena who took it, saying a quick thank you.

"Rather than eating in the hallway, would you like to come to my quarters? We were planning to go there with Odin after we would have find you."

Selena agreed, and the three friends headed for Laslow's quarters, the three of them chatting happily bringing some life to this castle that seemed so dead.

* * *

The days were passing much faster than the three friends would have thought, they had found their bearings in the castle and their status as retainers allowed them access to almost any place in the castle. They had a lot of free time although sometimes their masters asked for services, but it was very rare, only to lighten the work of their other retainer when they were overloaded.

The days soon turn into a week, they were not allowed to leave the castle which bothered them but they said nothing, another week and they would be "free". Everyone was busy in their own way, Laslow spent the majority of his time flirting with all the women he saw, Odin spent most of his time in the library, having found many books about magic or myths. And Selena was exploring the castle, going to the library or just staying in her room, she desperately wanted to go into town shopping but she couldn't.

The days passed and it was soon the end of the two weeks, more precisely it was the day before the end of their contract, the three friends had met on one of the balconies of the castle, until now their conversation was one of the one they usually had. Selena was leaning over the balcony railing, her elbows crossed slightly supporting her against it, looking down to see the rest of the castle spread out, engulfed in nothingness. Odin was lying on the floor with his hands folded under his head as Laslow leaned against the castle wall with one foot folded against it and his arms crossed.

"Why don't we stay here after all, it's not that bad." Laslow said it casually, it came out of nowhere and had nothing to do with the discussion they were having.

Selena turned to face her friends and raised an eyebrow at Lalsow, not sure if she heard correctly, Odin had straightened up slightly.

"How's that staying here ?" Selena had to ask, to be sure what he meant.

"I mean, here at the castle, as retainers."

"You're kidding right ?!" Selena had a hand on her temple and was shaking her head, failing to understand how her friend could say something so absurd. If she was totally honest she would say she had thought about staying here too, but she had never really considered it.

"No, I'm perfectly serious, life is not so bad here, we are housed, fed and we have access to almost everything."

"Or ... you don't want to leave because you don't want to let behind all those women you flirt with on a daily basis ..." Selena had a raised eyebrow and an accusing look.

Laslow scratched his cheek lightly and looked to the side while stammered, "Maybe that is one of the reasons ..."

"I was sure," Selena said with a mocking laugh, rolling her eyes.

"BUT !" Laslow continued quickly. "This is not the only reason, I mean, you too have noticed it, if we stay here we will be the first to know about everything that is happening in the country and even further, moreover the library is full of books and reports with information on historical or recent events. You see where I'm going, right? "

Odin and Selena's eyes widened slightly at the realization. "We could be notified if a portal appeared somewhere!"

Laslow motioned for Selena to lower her tone. "Speak less loudly, the castle might look dead but all castles have ears, and this conversation might sound fishy…"

Selena fell silent, before speaking more quietly this time; "And me who thought you had spent all your time flirting. However if we remain retainers of the royal family, that also means that if a war breaks out we will be sent to in the front line, and I have read a lot of history books about this world and wars are frequent, also tensions between Hoshido and Nohr exist from the dawn of time ... "

"And we know how to fight. " Laslow spoke in a serious tone that he rarely uses.

"Don't tell me ... are you planning to fight if a war breaks out ?! Laslow you can't be serious! We have only just restored peace in our world, well in the future of our world..., and you would like fight in this one too ?! "

"Selena please, we saw the condition in which this country is, and probably what we saw is only a small part, I want to help these people and if for that I need to fight then I will! "

"He's right Selena, I too feel the need to help these people, I can't just stand still while people are suffering, I don't want this world to become like our home world. And this case of figure only applies if war breaks out before the portal appears. " Odin for once was talking seriously and had let go of his character as a dark mage.

Selena was wordless, she didn't know what to say to her friends, she too wanted to help the people in this world but if that meant going through all the horrors of war she had known all her life, she didn't know if she could. She wasn't able to answer anything, the more seconds passed the more she lost her ability to speak, however she ended up pronouncing very softly; "Owain ... Inigo..I ... I don't know..It's .."

Laslow and Odin approached Selena slowly. "Please ... Severa ..." Laslow spoke very softly. "I know what you are thinking, yes it's going to be complicated, but ... I know deep down you want to help these people too, this world."

There was nothing but silence, Selena didn't react, after a while she spoke, "You know very well I wouldn't be leaving without you guys."

Odin and Laslow exchanged a look before a smile formed on their lips.

"So that means ... you accept?" Odin asked hesitantly but filled with hope.

Selena looked at them straight in the eye, her annoyed, self-confident pout had returned, she crossed her arms over her chest, "If anything goes wrong I'll hold you responsible, is that clear !?"

Odin and Laslow nodded smiling, Selena let a slight smile form on her lips despite all her fears, she let them enjoy the moment for a few moments before speaking; "Now, without wanting to ruin the mood, we have to succeed in convincing our dear employers to kindly keep us as their retainer."

All traces of joy disappeared from the faces of Laslow and Odin, replaced by hesitant faces.

"Personally I spent a few moments with Lady Camilla, and we quickly spoke to each other on several occasions, nothing big but that's already it, however I'm not sure she will agree to keep me, we are there only because they can't just fire us like that, it's purely out of obligation that they keep us as their retainers. "

"Uh, I rarely spoke to Prince Xander ... that's all .." Said a sheepish Laslow rubbing his cheek with his finger and looking to the side, Selena sighed and shook her head. . "It's not gonna be easy ... And you Odin?" She said with hope.

"Um ... well ... how to put it ... I tried to talk to Prince Leo but...uh...he's...sorta avoiding me .." he said an awkward smile on the lips.

Selena was livid, there was no way their liege would agree to keep them.

"Well, whoever tries nothing has nothing, I'm going to go talk to Lady Camilla, and you should do the same with your employer, try to convince them."

They continued talking for a few minutes before separating, going their separate ways.

* * *

Selena was currently in front of the door of Camilla's apartments, she had been there for a good five minutes without daring to knock, she inhaled one last time before finally knocking twice on the door.

An answer telling her she could come in didn't take long to come, as if Camilla already knew someone was there, the thought of that possibility only made Selena stress more, she didn't want her lady to know that she was there, hesitating, in front of her door all this time.

She slowly opened the door and closed it gently behind her, then turned to her lady and bowed slightly.

"Oh, it's you Selena, what a surprise!" Camilla had risen from her desk to face Selena, the height difference between the two intimidating Selena even more.

She stammered, "Ah uh, sorry to bother you but there's something I would like to talk to you about and -"

"Calm yourself honey, if you speak too fast I will not understand." Camilla wore her usual sweet smile on her lips and spoke in a calm tone.

Selena blushed, she thought she must be looking extremely ridiculous right now.

She inhaled deeply before exhaling and lifted her head, looking straight into Camilla's eyes, it was now or never, she had to ask her.

"Please, keep me as your retainer,...definitely!" Selena was speaking in a serious tone without a shadow of a doubt, if the woman in front of her was surprised by her request she didn't show it.

A few seconds passed and Selena was losing patience so she asked quickly and annoyed by the wait ; "So ?!" Camilla smiled back at her softly like always, her smile relaxed Selena, and finally she spoke ; "No."


	6. The tests

* * *

"No."

Was all she said, nothing else, no explanation or anything, a simple 'no' said in a light voice, a smile on her lips, was the last sound that was heard in the room as the seconds passed.

Selena was standing there looking at the person in front of her not knowing what to do or what to say, she was shocked, she wasn't really expecting a positive response however it was still a shock.

"Did you want to tell me something else ?" The woman in front of her didn't seem to mind the atmosphere in the room, nor did she seem concerned with the shocked expression on Selena's face.

Selena only vaguely heard her lady's question, too lost in thought to pay any more attention, her request had just been rejected as if nothing had happened, her eyes were still fixed on Camilla's face. but it was as if she was staring into space.

She blinked quickly, snapping out of her thoughts and stammering; "No ? Like in 'no' ? You can't just tell me that and- I mean, why ?"

The taller woman was no longer smiling and seemed slightly tired of this discussion. "You heard me, what I said was a no, I'm not going to keep you as my retainer. Now if you will excuse me I have things to do." Camilla moved away from Selena and began to move forward, she was quickly stopped by a Selena who moved in front of her preventing her from moving forward. To this Camilla just raised an eyebrow.

“Please Lady Camilla, keep me as your retainer, test me if you think I'm not up to the task but don't just refuse my request like nothing has happened. Give me a chance. Please !" Selena spoke quickly but seriously, she was looking straight into Camilla's eyes for a reaction.

The woman didn't react, she just looked at Selena intently, after a moment she spoke, "Test you ?"

Selena nodded. "Yes ! Anything !"

At these words a smile appeared on Camilla's lips. "Anything eh ?" She moved closer to Selena, took her chin between her fingers and lifted it a little higher, she leaned forward slightly before speaking, "What if I asked you to duel ?"

Selena swallowed, she definitely wasn't comfortable with this person, she didn't understand why this woman always entered her personal space. Generally if someone had asked her the same question she would have laughed and accepted, sure of her victory, yet in front of this woman she was intimidated, hardly daring to look her in the eye. But she wouldn't give up, she had agreed to stay in this world with these friends she wouldn't let them down, and if she had to fight her lady for that she would.

So she nodded in agreement to her lady's question.

The latter laughed lightly before gently letting go of Selena's chin and pulling away slightly. "You're funny, and you don't lack courage, besides ... I've always had a thing for lovely girls like you."

Selena winced slightly, wondering what was wrong with this person. "So that's a yes? Are you going to give me a chance?" She had to ask not wanting to have false hopes like the last time.

Camilla nodded. "Join me in an hour on the training ground." And with that she left.

Selena stood there without moving for a few seconds, in an hour she would have to fight her lady, she had no room for error, she had to succeed.

She left her lady's apartments and went towards her own.

* * *

She was currently in front of her mirror, she had attached her sword to her belt and was looking at herself trying not to stress too much, during her stay at the castle she had heard people talking, including about her lady, it was said that she loved very much her family and that she had no mercy on anyone who threatened the people she cared about. It was also said that she was an incredible warrior.

Selena knew how to fight, that's what she had done all her life, incredible warrior or not, Selena would fight as if her life depended on it.

She looked at herself for a few seconds before going to her desk, on it was placed a small leather bag, she gently took it and opened it, inside was a silver ring with a refined and unique design, the ring was attached to a damaged silver chain. Selena usually wore the ring around her neck, however the chain had become too damaged after many years of battles, and Selena didn't want to risk losing it so she put it in a small leather bag she was carrying in her pockets.

Since arriving in Nohr she hadn't taken it out until today, she held the ring in her hand gently looking at it with a sad look.

"I might be staying here longer than expected, but I'll be back, I promise." She spoke softly after a while she continued, "I miss you mother ... everyone .." she gently closed her fist, closing it on the ring, and closed her eyes, now was not the time to be melancholy, she shouldn't be disturbed by her emotions as she was about to fight. She replaced the ring in the small bag before placing it gently on the desk.

She checked her appearance in the mirror one last time before stepping out of her quarters and heading for the training ground. She still had time before the meeting time but she was not yet fully familiar with the place so she preferred to leave early.

* * *

Selena had taken longer than expected to arrive, she was currently standing in front of the gates leading to the training ground, she had to run to get there on time so she stopped to catch her breath before opening the doors.

When she entered and let the doors close loudly behind her she noticed that she was alone in the room. She had come there with her friends to train before when they had nothing else to do and there were always soldiers training that she could challenge, however not today, the great room was completely empty.

The room extended more in length than in width, the training ground was delimited by the brown lines forming an enormous rectangle making almost the whole size of the room. The demarcated space was covered with dusty dirt while the rest of the room was covered with stone. On the walls were, in a regular paterne, lanterns and on the sides of the room were a good number of benches. At the back were two medium sized locker rooms which stored everything like training swords and armor.

Selena walked into the room to sit on a bench, awaiting her lady's arrival.

Soon after, the doors opened and Selena turned her head in the direction of the noise, she could see Camilla advancing towards her with her usual smile on her lips. Selena stood up to face her lady and bowed slightly.

"Great, you're already here. We'll start right away then." Camilla spoke lightly. "Oh I see you brought your sword, good, you're going to need it since you won't be fighting with a training sword." Selena looked up and down at her lady, looking for the presence of a weapon but didn't find one.

"You didn't bring a weapon Lady Camilla ?" Selena spoke calmly, a confused look on her face.

"No, why would I bring one, you're the one who's going to fight, not me."

Selena's expression grew even more confused, Camilla noticed so she continued; "Oh, did you think you were going to fight me? What I said earlier was just a joke."

"In that case who am I going to fight against? There's no one here…" Selena looked around one last time as if to confirm her words.

As soon as she finished her sentence the doors opened and 25 people entered lining up in several rows behind Camilla. Selena looked at the people quickly before returning her gaze to Camilla.

"You will fight against my training partners, if you can beat them then I will make you my new retainer, definitely. The fights will be 1 vs 1."

Selena looked at the men behind Camilla again before nodding. Her lady then motioned to one of the soldiers and he went to stand on the training ground, Selena followed him and positioned herself in front of him about 3 meters apart. The remaining soldiers didn't move, however Camilla went to sit on a bench nearby.

"Start!" At Camilla's signal, Selena and the soldier both pulled out their swords, the soldier, as Selena suspected, didn't have a training sword but an iron sword like her.

During the first seconds no one moved, each gauging his opponent looking for a flaw. The soldier quickly charged Selena who dodged easily, the soldier fell to his knees because of his momentum and Selena took the opportunity to lower her sword on his neck, she stopped right when the iron touched the skin not shedding blood. The fight was over, Selena had won.

She raised her sword and pulled away from the soldier before letting her arm drop with her sword to her side, then she turned to Camilla. "Are they all going to be that weak ? Because it is clearly a waste of time, why not just bring them all at the same time, it will be faster." She spoke in a slightly mocking tone, glancing at the remaining 24 soldiers.

"No, there will only be 1 vs 1 fights. Now let's move on to the next fight." She nodded to a soldier who stepped forward and positioned himself in front of Selena and pulled out his sword.

"Start!"

Selena, this time, charged directly at the soldier from the front leaving plenty of flaws in her guard. She lowered her sword but the soldier blocked her and sent her back, taking the opportunity to charge her. Selena brought her sword back in front of her to block just as the soldier was about to hit her, they stayed in that position for a few seconds, at equal force, before the soldier let go of his sword with one hand to pull out a small dagger and go for a side hit, aimed at Selena's ribs.

Selena caught the soldier's movements and put more force into her grip on her sword allowing her to push the soldier back and jump back just in time to dodge the dagger.

She had let her guard down and underestimated the soldiers because of her first fight. However the first soldier was surely a decoy, Camilla had said that they were her training partners so these soldiers had to be good fighters.

Selena watched her opponent looking for a flaw in his guard, she then charged him quickly, placing her sword for a vertical hit, she lowered her sword and the soldier moved into position to block, at the last moment she changed the trajectory of her sword to a side strike and turned her sword so that the pommel and not the blade of the sword met the ribs of the soldier. The soldier let go of his sword and grabbed his ribs flexing in pain, Selena then pulled away from the soldier.

The fighting continued, the soldiers were getting stronger and better at predicting her hits since they had seen her fight before. Selena, however, always ended up beating them without suffering a single scratch. The soldiers did indeed make good training partners however they were no match for Selena, although fatigue was starting to take hold of her, however there were still 10 soldiers left.

Selena was not fighting at her maximum, not seeing the need for it and not wanting to tire herself more than necessary. The next soldier approached her, unlike the others he did not have a sword but a spear, at this Selena winced slightly but not enough for her opponent to notice.

Camilla signaled the start of the fight and the soldier charged her, Selena stepped back and the soldier continued throwing forward blows aimed at Selena's stomach. Until now Selena avoided each time injuring her opponents, however her opponents did not hold back their blows, even at times targeting her vital points, with each new opponent she had to be more careful.

She continued to dodge blows seeking a flaw as her opponent repeated the same blows over and over. When her opponent tried a breakthrough instead of jumping back she slid her sword along the spear deflecting it to the side and took the opportunity to charge the soldier, she turned her sword to hit him in the stomach with the pommel .

The following soldiers also had spears and were significantly stronger than any previous soldiers, at one point Selena nearly got hit but managed to narrowly avoid. There was only one soldier left, he was significantly taller and stronger than the others and was armed with a spear. Selena thought he would be an easy opponent, his size and build would be a disadvantage against someone like Selena whose speed was one of her strengths.

The fight began, Selena was confident and was about to charge but before she could make a move the soldier had already sent his spear forward aiming at Selena's stomach, she caught the move and dodged at the last moment, before she could get back on guard the soldier was already sending the next blow, Selena jumped back and get on guard, leaning slightly forward ready to charge at any moment, her sword in front of her to block the blows.

She had underestimated him, his height gave him a greater reach and his build gave him great strength, however that did not affect his speed. Selena will have to take it a little more seriously if she doesn't want to get hurt. She took a deep breath and exhaled she was going to fight more seriously for this opponent. She waited for him to charge her to dodge with a side jump and rush towards the soldier arriving in front of him.She quickly walked around him to find herself behind him and raised her sword to strike him in the neck stopping, again, when the metal had touched the skin.

"Finished !"

When Camilla declared the fight over Selena lifted the sword from the man's neck, stepped back and quickly lowered her weapon before row it into its scabbard. She then walked towards Camilla and stopped at a distance more than necessary.

"Well, that was a fun sight to watch. Maybe I should have picked tougher opponents or faced you myself… you didn't go seriously I can say that." Camilla actually seemed to be thinking about it and Selena hoped she wouldn't have to fight other people anymore, although the soldiers were no match for her she was starting to get a little tired.

"Anyway, you beat all the soldiers, so I'll keep my promise.” Camilla stood up from the bench to walk towards Selena. "It's a pleasure to have such a lovely and strong retainer." And with that Selena was pulled into a tight hug, she groaned and struggled slightly trying to get out of her lady's sudden embrace. At Selena's action, Camilla only chuckled slightly before finally releasing her.

She stepped back very slightly and smiled softly at her retainer. "Well, can't I have a little speech ?"

Selena didn't understand immediately what the princess meant but as soon as she understood she winced slightly, she didn't know what to say she hadn't planned anything. She dropped to one knee and bowed her head in front of her lady. "Lady Camilla, First Princess of Nohr, I Selena, swear to serve and protect you at the risk of my life. I pledge my allegiance to you and will obey your orders as long as you want me to."

Camilla chuckled lightly, "Well, I was just saying that as a joke I didn't really think you would do anything, although I think I understood that these things weren't really your cup of tea."

Selena stood up and looked at her lady grimacing. "Huhgg..sorry about that ... Lady Camilla."

"Everything is fine, I don't mind." There was a little pause where Camilla just looked at Selena. "Well from now on you'll have a lot more work than the last two weeks, you know that don't you ? The little things I asked you until now were just so as not to overload my other retainer. And you will not get the reward that you should have had tomorrow, however now at the end of each month you will receive a salary. "

Selena nodded. "Yes, I know Lady Camilla."

"Good, very good, now I would like you to meet my other retainer, follow me." Camilla motioned to the soldiers that they could return to their occupations and headed for the doors, Selena following a few feet behind her lady.

* * *

They walked in silence through the long corridors, after a few minutes they stopped in front of a door, Camilla knocked then entered not waiting for an answer, Selena followed her.

They were in a medium sized room which contained two desks, some storage space and two sofas facing each other, a low table separating them, two lanterns hung on the walls one on either side of the room.

A small person was leaning over one of the desks, not facing them.

"Perfect you are here Beruka." At the mention of the name the little person turned to face Camilla and Selena. "I would like to introduce you to my new retainer and your new partner, Selena." She paused and looked at Selena. "Selena, this is Beruka, my other retainer, I hope you'll get along well."

The two women nodded, Selena looked at the person in front of her, she was a small woman with a slender body and short blue hair stopping above her shoulders, she had dark purple eyes that were somewhat dull, an impassive look on her face. She wore jet black armor, a damages dark purple scarf was wrapped around her neck and dropped over her shoulders, plus a black headband was tied across her forehead under her hair.

"If you will excuse me, but I still have work to do." Camilla nodded at her retainer's statement and then Beruka walked past Selena and left.

"She's not very talkative, that's all." Camilla spoke with a small smile as her gaze was directed towards the door through which Beruka had just come out.

Selena only nodded.

"Well, not that your company bothers me, but I'm going to go too, I have things to do, you are free for the day, from tomorrow you will have a list in this room that will tell you what that you have to do. " Selena nodded again and Camilla smiled at her before stepping outside.

Selena left shortly thereafter to head for her friends' quarters.

* * *

She knocked on the door waiting for an answer, Selena was currently in front of the door of Odin's quarters, she had managed to convince Camilla to keep her in her service so she had decided to check on her friends and Odin's quarters were the closest from where she was. No one answered her so she knocked again on the door louder this time, starting to get annoyed with the wait. She waited but there was no response, she thought Odin must surely not be there and then walked away from the door, heading towards Laslow's quarters.

She walked down the halls rather quickly letting her footsteps echo. A few minutes later she arrived in front of Laslow's quarters, she hoped that the latter would be there. She knocked on the door and waited, quickly the door swung open and Laslow stood there, stepping aside to let Selena in, which she did. She walked into the room, heading straight for the bed and sitting on the edge, crossing her legs and leaning back supporting herself with her arms.

Laslow grabbed the chair from the desk and put it in front of Selena, then sat on it in a way to have the backrest in front of him to rest his arms on.

"So what is the reason of this visite ? Is it for tea ? I'm always up for it !" Laslow spoke happily with a flirtatious smile on his lips as he winked at Selena.

At that Selena simply raised an eyebrow, her scowl on her face.

"I was kidding , I was kidding." He said, raising his hands to his sides in defense. "Seriously, did you go to see Lady Camilla?"

"Yes I went to see her, and I managed to convince her to keep me as her retainer, and you how did it go with Prince Xander?"

"You managed to convince her ?! How did you do ?"

"She made me fight her training partners, I beat them end of story. So, with Prince Xander?"

Laslow had a big sincere smile on his lips as he reached out to gently nudge Selena's shoulder. "Whoa bravo ! Although it doesn't surprise me ! And me, well...I went to see him and I asked him to keep me, he told me he was busy at the moment so he said to come to the training ground after dark, if I can impress him maybe he will agree to keep me ... "Laslow was smiling but it wasn't one of his usual happy smiles, plus one he used when he was worried.

Selena looked at him for a few moments without speaking.

"Hey !" At that Laslow lifted his head to look at her. "You know how to fight, so you'll manage to impress him, okay ? And you better not fail or you'll have to deal with me !"

Laslow returned to his happy smile. "Hehe, I guess I can't fail then, I'm too scared of what you might do to me!" Selena smiles.

"Before I came here I went to Odin's quarters but there was no one there, I wonder where he is." Selena lifted her head to look at the ceiling.

She sighed, "I hope things are going well for him, Prince Leo doesn't seem to like him very much…"

They spoke for a few more minutes before Selena returned to her quarters.

* * *

Laslow was currently standing in the training ground awaiting Prince Xander. There he was, sitting on a bench, since night had begun to fall, it was now pitch dark and there was still no sign of the prince.

Laslow sighed, he was starting to believe that his master would never show up, that he surely must have forgotten. He had been there for at least two long hours now, he had seen the soldiers train and leave as he stood on a bench doing nothing, some soldiers had looked at him strangely but he hadn't paid attention.

The moment he rose of the bench heading to his quarters, tired of waiting aimlessly, the doors opened and slammed shut behind Prince Xander.

"Ah great, you're still here ! Sorry for being late, it took me longer than I thought."

Laslow bowed respectfully to his employer. "No need to apologize, milord."

Laslow straightened up to find Prince Xander looking him up and down, sizing him up. "I imagine you're still up for our little fight."

"Yes milord !"

"Well then, how about you go get us two training sword ?"

"I'm going right away, milord !" And with that Laslow walked to the back of the room, into the locker room, and returned a few seconds later, two wooden swords in his hands. He handed one to Xander who took the sword and thanked him.

They both walked towards the demarcated field and positioned themselves face to face a few meters away. Xander announced the start of the fight and Laslow wasted no time, he charged in front of Xander, raising his sword in the air as he jumped towards the Prince, arriving in front of the latter he lowered the sword with a powerful blow. Xander retaliated, blocking the sword easily and sending Laslow back.

Laslow landed gracefully on his feet, a small smile appeared on his lips, he returned to guard position and observed his opponent, his opponent was also on guard, leaving no flaws in his defense, he was focused on Laslow, his eyes capturing his every move.

A few seconds passed before the prince moved quickly towards Laslow, so quickly that Lalsow barely saw the prince move before he was in front of him, he stepped to the side avoiding the blade just of a few inches and took the opportunity to try a side blow, the prince jumped back and Laslow took the opportunity to charge him while the prince had not yet had time to put himself on guard.

Laslow feigned a side strike to suddenly stop his blow and take advantage of his opponent's confusion to quickly vanish behind his opponent's back, raising his sword to aim at his neck.

Xander turned in time, blocking the blow and pushing his opponent back before sending his sword forward aiming at Laslow's stomach, the latter predicted his enemy's movements and blocked the blow with the tip of the blade. They stayed in this position for a few seconds, not putting any particular force into their swords, just staring at each other, trying to predict their opponent's next move.

They both jumped back and put themselves on guard. Laslow didn't go seriously there and he knew neither did the prince, however he enjoyed the fight.

The fight continued, they exchanged blows, never managing to hurt or break through their opponent's guard. Laslow was moving quickly and gracefully, his every step was light and thoughtful, like a choreography, always a small smile on his lips.

Laslow decided to take it more seriously, he charged the prince head-on, and his blade was blocked, however he deflected his opponent's sword and pierced the hilt of himself, swinging his sword alternating between side and vertical blows, Xander was still blocking his blows however Laslow increased his speed, his blows had no paterns and he was constantly faking, leaving his opponent no chance to predict his next actions.

Laslow was pulling his opponent back little by little and Xander was blocking his blows slower and slower, he raised his sword for a vertical blow before suddenly disappearing from Xander's vision, only to appear behind him and once again aim at the back of his neck with a quick hit.

His blow was parried at the last moment, Xander had turned and managed to block the blow. He send Laslow back but instead of charging him he didn't move. Prince Xander was confused, his opponent was nothing ordinary. Although Laslow was his retainer he only saw him a few times, however each time his gaze fell on Laslow he saw him flirting with any of the women in the castle, not once had he seen him on the training ground and yet the man in front of him stood up to him, a playful smile on his face. Xander couldn't help but think that this man was playing with him.

Although Xander was enjoying the fight he didn't expect him to drag on so long, they probably trade blows for about twenty minutes but no one managed to beat their opponent. Xander was suspicious of Laslow, if he didn't go more seriously the man might beat him.

Xander watched his opponent carefully before charging him, he raised his sword and brought it down with a sharp and quick blow in Laslow's direction, that latter blocked but grimaced, surprised by the sudden force Xander was putting into his blow. However he succeeded to push the sword back but before he could get back on guard Xander was already delivering another side strike, Lalsow caught the movement of the corner of his eye and jumped back landing gracefully on his feet, but when he re- focused his gaze on his opponent, this latter was already in front of him ready to strike, Lalsow tried to parry but he had no time, the next second a sword was pressed against his neck.

" It's over !" Was all Xander said before pulling his sword away from Laslow, then he took a few steps back. Laslow huffed, it had been a long time since he had had to fight such a strong man, when he was training with Selena and Odin the fights were tight however the man in front of him had beat him as soon as he had become more serious.

"It will be enough, I got the information I needed." Xander spoke flatly, no emotion on his face.

Laslow swallowed, he had lost the fight, but did that mean he had failed to impress his lord, he wasn't sure.

"So, milord ? Did I manage to impress you? "Laslow asked hesitantly, a forced smile on his face.

"Yes, you did, it has been a long time since I had to seriously fight someone. I didn't expect a man who spends all his days wooing any woman to be so good at fighting. "His tone was serious however you could hear a hint of reproach in his words.

Laslow swallowed and winced, he didn't know his lord had seen him indulge in such activity. "Haha ... well, what can I say, I'm more of a man to flatter women's hearts than a warrior."

"However, your combat level reflects years of training."

"Where I come from, milord, if you want to survive you have to take up arms."

"Um ... I agree to keep you as my retainer, definitively, you know how to fight and all the tasks that I gave you during the last two weeks have been perfectly accomplished. Besides there is something intriguing about you ... "

"Thank you milord, it's an honor! " Laslow bowed respectfully to his employer.

Xander nodded. "You can go back to your quarters now, the real work starts tomorrow and it's getting late."

"Very well milord !" Laslow took the two training swords and went to store them in the locker room before leaving for his quarters.

* * *

Odin woke up late today, for good reason, he had spent all day yesterday walking in the corridors in search of his master. The castle was huge and Odin had searched absolutely everywhere, in every room and in every nook he was allowed to go without ever finding Prince Leo.

He had asked the few people he met if they knew where the prince could be without ever getting an answer helping him in his quest, he had thought of looking for his friends to ask them to help him but he did not, thinking that they would probably already be too busy with their own master.

He had therefore spent the day tirelessly seeking for that, in the last hours of the day just before nightfall, a guard informed him that Prince Leo was gone for the day and would not come back until the next day.

When he knew this, Odin panicked, the next day was the end of their contract, and his employer normally avoided him so that sometimes they didn't see each other, even from afar, for days. Besides, how could he convince him to keep him in his service with so little time at his disposal. His plan was to find his employer and convince him all night long if he had to, but it was screwed up, or so he thought. So he went, slowly to his quarters, exhausted and sheepish. And had fallen flat on his bed, falling asleep as soon.

He was now awake but still tired and sheepish, not knowing what to do, he wanted to go see his friends to ask them for advice and also to know how it has been for them, however he also had to go to his lord's appartements without losing more time.

So he quickly left his room, not making a detour to the kitchen to grab a piece of bread or something to eat and walked over to Leo's quarters hoping he would be there. He was walking quickly, and although the castle is huge and labyrinthine he arrived in no time at his destination.

He didn't take a few seconds to catch his breath, he knocked twice on the door the second he arrived. A long silence took place, Odin's face contorted, he didn't dare imagine that he would have to roam the castle up and down again if his employer was not in his quarters.

Fortunately for him as he was about to walk away, a voice was heard allowing him to enter. He wasted no time and opened the door as he entered the room loudly.

"Argg ... obviously it's you ... as I suspected ... you could have done, at least, a less ... noisy entrance ..!" Leo was sitting at his desk, many books spread out in front of him as he shook his head in annoyance with a hand on his forehead.

"Good morning milord, excuse the great Odin Dark- and by Odin Dark I mean myself- for his sudden and unique entry, he's here to present a request, which he hopes your royal ears will deign to listen to!" Odin spoke loudly, striking a pose, bulging his chest and lifting his head towards the ceiling, one hand on his forehead the other stretched out in front of him.

Leo sighed in annoyance ,harder this time, but motioned for Odin to continue.

"Well, I, the great dark mage that I am, wish to put my powers at your service forever!"

"I saw it coming…" He sighed one last time before continuing in the same monotonous and uninterested tone he always does even though annoyance was on his face. "I imagine you're of the same caliber as the two others..."

"Are you talking about my two friends ? Selena and Laslow ?" Odin now stood in a normal posture in front of Leo, a slightly confused look on his face at the mention of his friends.

"Their name doesn't matter, but yes I imagine we're talking about the same people." A vein could be seen forming on the prince's temple as a fake polite smile, which was there mainly to keep him from getting angry, could be clearly seen on his face.

"Oh well, I don't know why you mention them but yes, of course, my companions and I are of the same 'caliber' as you say." Odin had calmed down and spoke more seriously, trying not to piss off his master any more, although he wasn't sure what he meant by 'of the same caliber'.

"Argg ... of course, so I guess there is no point in testing you, you will pass the test no matter what I ask you to do ..." Leo paused to think, he thought that he could just fire him, his brother and sister had decided to give their retainer a chance but he didn't have to ... he smiled at the thought, he glanced at the man who was in front of him and his smile faded, he figured that the man was capable of pestering him until he got what he wanted and that would cause him a good number of headaches, although he could just decide to throw him in jail ...

The prince continued to think about the possibilities to get rid of the person he considered as a nuisance, even if he decided to lock him in the dungeons his intuition told him that the man would find a way to escape. When suddenly an idea occurs to him, he thinks about it a few more moments before a smile appears on his lips, yes, he was going to do that.

"Fine, I agree to keep you as a retainer. Now if you could leave my quarters, I'm busy." And with that Leo stopped paying attention to Odin and focused again on the books in front of him.

"Understood milord, it is an honor to be at your service." Odin bowed and turned to leave, surprised that his employer accepted just like that. He was about to close the door when Leo's voice was heard, "Ah ! I forgot, come see me after dark tonight, here in my quarters I'll have a mission for you." Odin nodded and left, closing the door behind him. He was impatient and curious to know what his mission would be, although surprised at how it had unfolded.

This time he left for the quarters of his friends.

* * *

Selena was currently in Laslow's quarters with her two friends, Odin had come to pick her up and they left together to join Laslow. She had finished her chores for the day so she had the rest of the day to herself, she hadn't had much to do just two or three things here and there, probably because this was all still new and now that her lady had two retainers the work to be done had to be divided into two.

She was sitting on the edge of the bed next to Odin while Laslow was seated in the chair across from them.

"My friends, I announce to you that I am officially and eternally the retainee of Prince Leo!" He said proudly, his chest bulging.

Smiles formed on every face in the room, Laslow and Selena had already informed Odin that they had managed to convince their employer but Odin hadn't said anything until now.

"That's great! We all three did it !" Laslow had spoken with a big smile on his lips, in a cheerful voice.

The three friends chatted and laughed happily for a few minutes talking about nothing and everything.

When at one point Odin spoke, more seriously; "um ... Prince Leo told me to meet him after dark, he would have a mission for me or something, but he didn't said anything more, I wonder what it can be."

His two friends looked at him, before everyone thought about what it could be and why make an appointment at night, couldn't it be done during the day ?

When none of the friends could find a plausible hypothesis, except that it was perhaps a whim of his employer they dropped the subject and after some more time they parted ways and continued their days as they wanted.


	7. A Disturbing Absence

* * *

Night had fallen for a little while now, Odin was currently in Leo's quarters, standing in front of his employer as the latter had his nose buried in books and other documents.

"Milord, your servant of darkness has arrived, ready to listen to the task you want to give him away from prying ears."

Leo looked up after taking one last look at the books spread out in front of him.

"Hmm..yes..yes, it's great that you are there .." Leo spoke selflessly, he paused, slightly leaning forward on his desk, resting his elbows on it and resting his chin against his hands.

"If I summoned you this evening it is to give you your first mission, I would like to obtain a very specific item and I am counting on you to go and get it for me." A smirk crept discreetly on his lips as he spoke.

Odin nodded, not understanding why the prince had summoned him so late to retrieve an item.

"This object is a crystal containing the essence of darkness, its location is unknown and only a few rumors and myths speak of this object. But I want it Odin."

At the words of his employer, Odin was surprised but he was also brimming with excitement, who would have believed that so soon after entering the prince's service he would be assigned such an important task.

"Obviously ... you won't return to the castle until you have found this item, and if you dared to come back without having completed your mission you would be fired from my service, is that clear?" Leo had a hard gaze, focused on Odin, which left no room for conversation.

"It is very clear milord, do not worry I will not disappoint you!" Odin bowed and turned, making his cloak fly. "I'm leaving now, milord." And with that said, Odin opened the door and closed it behind him.

* * *

He walked through the hallways until he got to his room, once inside he took his bag and placed his tome of magic in it, along with a few things he deemed useful. He carried the bag to his shoulder and moved to his desk, tore a piece of paper from a document that was there, and wrote a note to his friends if they passed by. Once done he left his room and headed for the kitchen.

The kitchen was empty and no lights were on, the room was lit only by the moonlight which, exceptionally, had managed to break through to the depths of the crater. Odin walked slowly trying not to make too much noise. He stuffed his bag of food and turned to leave, he was about to move forward when he sensed someone's presence, the darkness of the room made it difficult to confirm or not his intuition. He looked around carefully until his attention was finally caught by a cold night breeze.

He looked up to the source of the breeze to find an open window bathed in moonlight, on its ledge, a man sitting there. Odin couldn't see the man well due to the lack of light. He could only catch silver hair flowing lightly in the breeze.

The man moved, stepping down from the windowsill to approach Odin. This new proximity allowed Odin to better distinguish the man. He was about the same height and build, although a little darker skin tone. Slightly long silver hair was accompanied by a single piercing light blue eye, where the other should be there was only a black eye patch. The man had simple black pants and a top in shades of blue and gray with transparent black sleeves all covered with a short navy blue cape. In addition, the man had boots which went higher than his knees and which flared out as well as a belt to which was hung a quiver filled with arrows.

"You come for food when the wolf is not there ... too bad ..." the man spoke cynically, a mocking smile pulled the corner of his lips.

"You get me wrong, I have just been given a mission that seals me in silence and sends me like a shadow to disappear some time before the day breaks. I am only coming to seek provision for my coming quest." Odin, while speaking made many gestures expressing or mimicking his words.

The man in front of him only chuckled. "Oh ~ but..you see, I know about it ... here the walls have ears. And by here we hear sometimes some things very ..." the man quickly walked around Odin, slipping behind him and whispering to his ear; "... interesting .."

As fast as the man had approached Odin he stepped back, sitting down on one of the tables nearby.

"Your aura is unknown to me, can you tell me what is your name, stranger ?" Odin was slightly on guard, something about this man was bothering him. He said he knew some interesting things, could it be that he have overheard a conversation between him and his two friends? It wouldn't surprise him, after all, Odin knew full well that someone was in front of him and yet he could barely feel his presence. It wouldn't be difficult for him to spy on someone without being noticed.

"Stranger ?" He sneered. "Wouldn't it rather be you the stranger of the two of us? I mean ... you and your little buddies don't seem to be from here ..."

Odin gasped slightly at the man's statement, though he thought he had been discreet the man still noticed. "Looks like I've hit the nail on the head ..."

"It is true that we are not from here. But we are mere adventurers stopping over in this realm of Nohr."

"Mmm ... unhunn ~" The man didn't seem to believe what Odin was saying but left the subject aside. "The name's Niles by the way. A little advice, you better not do anything too suspicious around here, who knows what could happen to you ..." the man spoke with a mocking and cynical smile on the lips.

Odin was definitely not comfortable with this so-called Niles. As he was about to retort, a great draft attacked him forcing him to close his eyes and place his arm in front of his head as if to protect himself. As fast as the draft came as fast it stop. When Odin opened his eyes again Niles was gone, he turned his gaze to the window that Niles supposedly came from and walked over to it but there was nothing, only a light cold breeze caressing his face.

Odin decided to put aside everything that had just happened, he checked one last time that he had enough food and left in the direction of the stables.

He walked fast, not slowed down by the dark. Once arrived at his destination he took a horse and left in the direction of where he did not know but determined to find this crystal containing the essence of darkness that his highness wanted.

* * *

Selena woke up early this morning, she opened her eyes slowly, the first thing she saw was this ceiling which was becoming more and more habitual. She straightened up and looked out the window, like every day she could only see the front of the crater.

She got up quickly and dressed in her mercenary outfit, then she walked to her bag that she had placed on the only chair in the room and took her comb. Her morning routine had started. She combed softly and very carefully her burgundy hair lanyards before tying them in her signature hairstyle with the ribbons. She then tied her belt with her sword around her waist, and put on her boots and gloves. She was ready for this new day.

A routine had settled in for her and for her friends, they would wake up in aude, get ready in about fifteen minutes and meet at the mess for their breakfast, then chat until their path parted, each going to their business. They liked this routine and nothing bothered it, except this morning.

Selena walked quietly down the halls towards the mess. When she got there she found Lalsow waiting for them leaning against a wall. At the sound of footsteps he turned his attention to her and waved his hand, which she returned.

As she continued to move closer she looked around Laslow curiously. "Odin isn't here?" Since Laslow and Odin's quarters were close to each other they did most of the way together. However today Laslow was alone.

"Um ... no..I didn't see him this morning. I thought he must have been early so I didn't go to his quarters and came straight here but he's not here. .. "

The two friends stood there for a while, waiting for Odin who never came. The minutes passed but there was still no sign of their friend. So they decided to go eat without their friend, if they kept on waiting they would end up being late and since it was only their second day of work they couldn't afford it.

They entered the mess and walked to the various counters where food was served. They put water, bread and condiments on their tray, along with other small things to munch on. They sat face to face at the end of a table and began to eat.

"... hey ... you think Odin might be out because of ... what he told us ... yesterday? You know ..., that Prince Leo ... wanted to see him. " Laslow was talking between bites under Selena's indignant gaze as she kicked him in the leg from under the table. Laslow straightened up at the pain and choked out a small cry as he nearly choked.

"Don't talk while eating !" Selena snapped. Lalsow could only look at her surprised, couldn't she just tell him instead of hitting him? Besides, they had known each other for a long time now and, as far as he knew, his manners had never bothered her. Lalsow was a man who knew good manners but it happened sometimes, when he was with friends, to ignore it.

"But yes, you may be right ... however does that mean that Odin is not here at the moment or that Prince Leo released him late that night and therefore he is asleep?"

"If we leave now we have time to go to his quarters to check."

Since the two friends had finished their breakfast they put down their tray and cutlery in the designated place and leave in the direction of Odin's quarters.

They walked quickly not wanting to run out of time and have to run to start their work on time. They soon reached the door that led to Odin's quarters, Laslow knocked twice and they waited. When no response came Laslow knocked again, this time a little harder. Still nothing. He then motioned for Selena to wait here for him as he went to check inside the apartments.

Lalsow slowly opened the door and crept inside, looking around the room to find Odin when his gaze fell on a folded letter lying in the middle of the bed. Lalsow called Selena to come see with him what this letter was. She took it and opened it gently before reading its contents aloud.

"I, your sidekick and servant of the shadows, am absent myself for an indefinite time in the present where I am writing this letter. I see myself carrying a mission sealed by silence and I am leaving immediately. Let our paths cross when fate wills. Odin Dark "

Selena looked up at Lalsow waiting for a reaction. The latter didn't really know how to react, however.

"Well ... at least we know he's not here ... but no idea where he might be or when he'll be back ..."

"Yeah ... this mission he's talking about ... this is surely what Prince Leo wanted to talk to him about ... I have a bad feeling ... "

They stood there looking at this letter their friend had left them, worried about where he was and of when he would return.

* * *

Selena walked quickly to her office, shared with her colleague Beruka. She hadn't seen her since Camilla had made the introductions.

Selena opened the door and closed it behind her, when she turned around she saw that Beruka was there, leaning over one of the desks with a small list in her hand. Selena gave a small hello which was not returned, Beruka only nodded very lightly informing Selena that she had heard her.

Selena shrugged and walked over to her desk where there was a note. There wasn't a lot marked on it just two or three little things. Selena glanced quickly at Beruka's note only to find that it was way fuller than hers. Selena felt offended that her liege might think she wasn't as capable as her other retainer.

"Hey!" Selena said indignantly. Beruka turned slightly to Selena, the source of the noise. When she didn't speak Selena pointed at the note Beruka was holding in her hand. The latter took a quick glance, seeing nothing abnormal, and focused on Selena who still wasn't speaking.

"If you don't have anything to tell me I'll leave. I have things to do." And with that Beruka turned towards the door to leave.

"Waits !"

Beruka stops and turns slightly to Selena.

"Why do you have so many more things to do than me ?!"

"I don't know. Ask Lady Camilla." And with that Beruka left the room closing the door behind her.

Selena groaned a few seconds before quickly taking the note left by Camilla clutching it in her hand. "She's very funny this one, as if I could go and complain to Lady Camilla." She thought before putting the note in her pocket and suddenly opening the door to go towards her first task, taking care of the horses.

As the kingdom of Nohr was in peacetime, more or less, the retainers did not need to watch without moving their cork all day, so they ended up with much less work than expected, which is why they were assigned tasks like taking care of the horses, tidying up the library, delivering documents ... Selena didn't mind and moreover it's not as if she wasn't used to this kind of work, in Ylisse everyone was helping on the camp.

She quickly arrived at the stables, they were obviously not within the walls of the castle, so she had to cross the bridge to get to the stables.

She felt sorry for the horses, whereas in Ylisse, and probably everywhere else, the horses were in the open air, with large fields for galloping and at their feet a fresh grass was there. Here in Karkenburg it was not like that. The horses did not see the light of the sun, they were locked in their boxing and at their feet was stone and dried straw.

Selena walked into the stable and the first thing she saw, or rather the first person she saw was Beruka, straw full of her arms. Selena was starting to get annoyed, first of all her cork gave her less work, which Selena translates into a lack of confidence in her abilities on Camilla's part, and now the work assigned to her Beruka also had to do it, as for make sure Selena was doing her job well.

At the entrance of Selena Beruka did not even turn her head to see who it could be, she just continued her work. Selena then did the same, going to get some straw to spread it in one of the boxes. Lucky for her the worst part of the job had already been done before Selena and Beruka arrived. The manure had already been removed and the room ventilated leaving only to the two retainers to feed the horses as well as to put new straw.

Time passed as the work continued, no words had been exchanged and an unpleasant silence reigned. Selena had finished taking care of all the stalls assigned to her, so she headed over to where Beruka was to collect the horse food. Beruka didn't face Selena as she arrived.

Suddenly Selena noticed out of the corner of her eye that one of the horses was restless and about to give Beruka an unwanted blow. Selena then quickly pulled Beruka towards her, preventing her from taking the hit.

"I could have avoided it on my own." Beruka paused. "But thanks." And with that she walked away from Selena looking at the restless horse. She was inspecting it carefully when she noticed something on one of its paws.

"He is wounded."

She said nothing else and didn't move either. Selena decided to put aside the little gratitude she had received for sparing her college a blow and focused on what was most important, treat the horse. She spoke quickly ;

"Ok, I'll get something to cure him and meanwhile you calm him down." Selena would have already left if she hadn't seen Beruka's look of incomprehension as she stared at the horse.

"Calm him down?"

Selena sighed, Beruka didn't seem like the type of person to really sympathize with others. "Fine, you go find something to cure him and I calm him down." With a knowing nod, Beruka walked into the stable warehouse as Selena gently approached the horse whispering like she had seen her mother but especially Sumia doing it with the pegasus so often. The horse seemed to calm down little by little as Selena could now put a hand on the top of his muzzle and draw lazy patterns there to calm him down.

The warehouse door slowly re-opened revealing a Beruka with balm and bandages in her hands. Selena continued to calm the horse as Beruka walked around him to gently grab, by following Selena's instructions, one of the horse's legs. She began to heal the wound, the horse neighed but Selena quickly calmed him. Once the wound had been disinfected Beruka wrapped a bandage around the wound and placed the horse's leg back on the ground before getting up and walking away from the animal.

Selena made sure the horse was calm before stepping away from him and continuing her work, still in silence but a much more pleasant than before this little accident. It was still not that but there was some progress.

Feeding the horses hadn't taken much time, so it was not yet noon. Selena waved goodbye to Beruka, who returned it to her, before heading to her small shared office. Her next task will be to return books to one of the librarians and then she will have to tidy up part of the bookstore. Recently he had received a lot of books and was overwhelmed, so he asked if it was possible for him to receive help. That's why Selena had to take care of it.

* * *

The day passed quickly, Selena had returned the books then had walked on the balconies of the castle waiting for it to be noon to join Lalsow.

They ate together every day but today Odin was not there, and although he had only been away for a few hours he left a blank that was impossible to fill, without him it was not the same.

After the meal Selena headed straight for the library, it was her last chore of the day and when she was done she had the rest of the day to herself.

She was currently on her way back to her room, walking quickly without really paying attention to her surroundings when she heard someone call her name. She stopped dead and turned in the direction of the sound only to find Camilla a few feet away.

Selena was surprised, she didn't expect to meet her lady, although that was not surprising. She quickly approached and stopped at a respectful distance before bowing politely. "Good morning Lady Camilla."

"Yes hello to you too Selena. I was wondering ... did you finish your chores for the day?" Camilla was speaking as usual, casually, a soft smile on her lips.

Selena looked up before nodding.

"Good! Then how about a cup of tea in my apartments ?"

Selena didn't really want to but she couldn't refuse so, once again she nodded. "It would be my pleasure Lady Camilla."

Camilla just smiles a little more. "Great, I wouldn't have accept a 'no' anyway." She laughed slightly. Then motioning for Selena to follow her and then she walked towards her apartments.

* * *

They had arrived quickly at Camilla's apartments, they had just made a slight detour to warn a servant to prepare tea and bring it. Camilla had guided her out onto the balcony where a table was already nicely set, all that was missing was tea.

In this season the air was still mild enough for the middle of the afternoon and there was a very light pleasant breeze that caressed the face. The sky was even clearer than usual, leaving, at times, a few sunbeams pierced and rushing into the crater. It was the perfect weather for a cup of tea outside. At least, the best possible time in Nohr.

Camilla and Selena sat face to face waiting for their tea. Since they had started walking no words had been said between the two. Selena found the silence unpleasant and dreaded that it would stay there until she could finally leave.

She had taken off her gloves and placed them carefully on her lap shortly after she sat down, the reason for this was, obviously because it's more convenient to hold the cup of tea, but it was mostly a distraction more than anything, to pass the time until a servant returns with tea.

Selena would throw a quick glance at Camilla every now and then, wondering if she found the silence uncomfortable. But the woman was watching the view, her usual smile on her lips. So Selena did the same, she turned her head to the sight that stood before her. Camilla's apartments were in the upper part of the castle, in one of its towers. From where they were they could see all the castle. But that was all there was. While this might be one of the most beautiful scenes Selena saw of the castle and Nohr it was still Krakenburg, a cold, scary and not very beautiful place.

"You don't like the view?" Camilla asked, she had turned to Selena without her noticing and must have seen how her retainer was not really impressed by the sight. When Camilla spoke Selena did not turn to her immediately surprised to hear her speak suddenly and especially for that matter.

"Huuuummm …-" Selena didn't really know what to say, she looked at the sight stretching beneath her for a moment longer before focusing back on her lady. Should she lie to her or tell her the truth, she didn't know what to do. She didn't want to upset her lady but at the same time she wasn't the type to keep her tongue in her pocket.

"Cat got your tongue ?" Camilla laughed lightly, placing a hand in front of her mouth, because of the anguish of her retainer.

Selena blushed, she was really uncomfortable and really didn't know what to say or do. Camilla's insistent gaze didn't help.

Camilla laughed a little harder because of what was happening making Selena blush even more. Camilla turned her gaze to the sight again, a small smile on her lips, albeit a sadder one. "Surely you think that Nohr is not very beautiful, is not it? ... well I agree with you, Krakenburg isn't really a dream landscape is it?" She paused a little. Selena relaxed and her blush faded, she focused fully on the person in front of her waiting for her to continue.

"But, there are also some very beautiful places in Nohr, they are rare but they are there." She refocused on her retainer her usual smile back. "Even though the vegetation is mostly dead there are some large flower fields in the kingdom. There are also many beautiful hot springs from which one you can observe the stars at night."

Selena didn't answer, but she had listened very carefully to what her lady had said. So such places existed in Nohr? She didn't know, but she would like to visit them one day. To Selena's relief, Camilla didn't seem to mind the lack of response.

"You're not from around here are you?"

"Um ... no Lady Camilla" Now that she thought about it she hadn't said anything personal about herself to her lady, she was a total stranger to her. It was a miracle that Camilla agreed to keep her.

The look Camilla was giving her informed her that her lady was waiting for her to develop a little more. "Laslow, Odin and I are travelers. We travel the world. We come from a very small country far from Nohr called Cydia." She paused to look at her lady. The latter looked at her amused a small smile, which she tried to hide, on the lips and a slightly raised eyebrow. She didn't believe her.

Selena wanted to bury herself alive, she was really trying to make someone from Nohr's royal family, who probably received the best possible education, believe that she was from a country that didn't even exist. Both women knew this story was nothing but a lie. Besides, it didn't make sense that Selena and Laslow were travelers, they both wore Nohr's mercenary uniforms.

As Camilla began to open her mouth to speak knocking was heard at the door. Camilla let out a chuckle before informing people outside that they could enter.

As Camilla watched the people enter, Selena gave a silent sigh of relief. She had managed to escape this time but she was not safe forever.

A cup of tea was placed in front of her as well as in front of Camilla. A sweet aroma reached her nostrils, which immediately relaxed her as a slight smile formed on her lips, it was her favorite tea she would recognize it among a thousand, it was rose tea.

Soon after, the servants apologized and left, leaving Selena and Camilla alone again. Camilla just looked at Selena for a moment before deciding that she would drop this topic of conversation for now.

"Please, you can drink if you want." Camilla said gently as she took her cup in a hand starting to drink.

"Thank you Lady Camilla," Selena said quickly before doing the same.

"I hope the tea is to your liking."

"Yes that's perfect Lady Camilla."

The two stayed there without speaking for a while just enjoying the tea. Until Camilla spoke again; "Any problem with your job?"

"No, Lady Camilla, nothing to report." Selena thought for a moment, to ask her lady why she had less work than Beruka but she didn't dare. Camilla seemed to guess as she continued; "Good, very good. You'll have more work over the next few days, I didn't want to exhaust you so I decided it was best if I gradually increased the amount of work."

Selena was surprised to hear her lady answer her question without her even asking it. She kept a calm demeanor, however, and simply nodded.

"Do you get along well with my other retainer, Beruka?" Selena looked up at Camilla not really knowing what to say, but when she saw the hopeful look in Camilla's eyes she really didn't know what to say. "Um ... well, Lady Camilla ... yes, yes everything is fine...I guess ?"

Camilla's smile dropped slightly. "She's not very talkative and can be a bit cold but don't blame her okay ? She just has a hard time opening up to others, give her some time, will you?"

Selena felt a little bad that she hadn't been the friendliest to Beruka and responded quickly; "Of course Lady Camilla." At this Camilla smiled sincerely and seemed to be relieving. Selena hadn't noticed it before now, but she didn't want to disappoint the person in front of her. She didn't know where that feeling was coming from and wasn't sure why, not disappointing her lady mattered to her but it was there.

She had to stay still for a moment because when she finally blinked she saw Camilla looking at her strangely. Embarrassed she acted as if nothing had happened and carefully took her cup of tea to take a sip, what she did not notice was that Camilla was looking at her amused a small smile on her lips.

They continued to chat quietly when Selena noticed that her lady was looking closely at her hair. Remembering what Julia had said to her, she snapped without thinking; "I'm not from Hoshido if that's what you think!"

Camilla's eyes widened slightly at this, for several reasons; the great disrespect, the false accusation, and the sharp, dry tone Selena had directed at her. As Camilla frowned Selena bit her lip realizing what she had just done, this action caused Camilla to relax slightly and simply wait for Selena to speak. What she did.

She lowered her head and spoke quickly; "I am sincerely sorry Lady Camilla, it was very disrespectful of me and I spoke without thinking, please forgive me. See, it's just that- "

"Selena." Camilla had raised her tone slightly, silencing her. Then she continued more gently this time; "It's okay I accept your apology, just watch out in the future." She paused and seeing that Selena didn't react she continued. "So raise your head, or you'll end up having a sore neck." Camilla spoke with a gentle smile as she reached out to place one of her hand under Selena's chin, gently lifting it up.

"I never suspected you to be from Hoshido, why do you think that?" Camilla spoke calmly trying to figure out what made Selena react the way she did. She suspected that Selena wasn't the most polite type of person and that she didn't keep her tongue in her pocket, yet she didn't expect it to be directed at her, she was, after all, her Lady.

"It's just that everyone in town is looking at me like I'm a spy from Hoshido or I don't know what, just because my hair color is unusual around here ... and so I thought that was what you were thinking since you were looking at my hair ... "

"Oh..I understand honey. But I just looked at your hair because I find it very beautiful, it is not a color that we often see here indeed. "

Selena blushed before slipping her hair over her shoulder and speaking somewhat pretentiously; "Hmff, obviously I take great care of it, my hair are perfectly healthy and are beautiful!" Then she added more timidly and looking to the side; “Sorry again for the false accusation…”

"I have no doubt that you take excellent care of it, in any case it's truly a gorgeous color.” Selena focused directly back on Camilla at her words. The latter just stared at the long burgundy hair of the person in front of her a smile, perhaps the most sincere that Selena had ever seen her. She blushed at the compliment, it really touched her, maybe it was one of the first times someone actually complimented her hair. Not that no one has ever paid her a compliment but people always said to her "you really inherited your mother's beautiful hair, eh? You're lucky." Or "your hair is beautiful, well after all, it's the same as your mother's." Compliments were never directed only to her, it was always for her mother. But not this time, no, this time the compliment was meant for her and her alone.

They continued to chat for a while before deciding it was time for everyone to get back to their activities. Camilla accompanied Selena to the door of her apartments. She was about to wish her a good day when she noticed that Selena was looking concerned. "Is something bothering you?"

Selena was surprised not expecting her lady to notice. She stammered ; "Huh? Uh no ... no, nothing that might concern you."

It didn't answer what she had asked for but after observing Selena's face for a few more seconds she decided not to force Selena to tell her and dropped the subject. They wished each other a good day and as Selena left Camilla closed the door of her quarters.

* * *

Selena was, indeed, upset or more exactly worried, the absence of Odin affected her. Even more since his absence was due to a mission that Prince Leo had entrusted to him. Odin had been very vague in his letter, where he was going and when he would return were unknown informations. Selena had a bad feeling, Leo didn't seem to like Odin and yet he had agreed to keep him as his retainer and had, in addition, directly entrusted him with a mission. Something was off.

On another topic, as Selena walked towards her quarters, she thought about the tea she had with Camilla. It had gone better than expected, the awkward silence at the start had gone faster than expected, although it had been there for quite a while. The conversation had been embarrassing at times, but overall you can say that it went well. Selena still wasn't comfortable with Camilla nor figured out her but she could probably get used to this person pretty quickly, she thought. Also she would make more effort, with Beruka, to get along better.

She got to her quarters rather quickly and wandered about her business.

* * *

The week went by quickly, every day Selena had a little more work than the day before and Beruka had less, until the end of the week when they finally had the same amount.

Moreover, each day they had a task in common, even if this task did not require to be two. Selena quickly understood that Camilla had done this on purpose to bring her two retainers to get closer to each other. And Camilla's plan works smoothly, although you can't say that Selena and Beruka are friends there was some progress, they were talking more. Well, it was mostly Selena who was speaking, recounting her days or complaining and Beruka who was simply nodding her head to confirm what Selena was saying without trying to participate more in the conversation.

The days were busy but Selena always managed to get all of her chores done before the evening began, leaving her enough free time to do whatever she wanted. She had run into Camilla from time to time stopping to discuss a few sentences at her lady's request, but nothing much.

Laslow was busier too, but they always managed to have lunch and eat together without any of them being late or too busy with work. However, there was still no news from Odin and the two friends were getting more and more worried. It's been almost a week, what could take him so long?

Selena, Laslow and Odin had planned to go to town on their day off, to see Julia and Marc. But they didn't want to go without Odin. They had been at the castle for almost three weeks now and not once had they left the castle. Moreover the last time they had seen Julia and Marc it was rather catastrophic, the three friends were sure that they must be worried for them and blame themselves. One more reason to quickly go see them and reassure them that they were all fine and that they wanted to remain the retainers of the royal family. But without Odin it wouldn't be the same so they would just hope he would come back soon, preferably unharmed. But for now they could only wait.

* * *

It was night now. A little noise was heard at the window, as if someone had thrown a small pebble. Leo turned around at the noise and when he saw nothing at his office window he stood up and walked over to it. He opened it wide and took a few steps back as Niles surged into the room before leaning back against the window sill, a teasing smile on his lips. "Good evening milord."

Leo shook his head slightly in annoyance but also amused before heading back to his desk and plunging his head back into his books. "Niles how many times have I told you to come in through the door and not through the window." He sighed, as Niles continued to smile. "You wanted to tell me something ?"

"There is news, my sources informed me that he was on his way home…" his tone of voice was amused and somewhat mocking. Leo stood up immediately, turning to his retainer. "It's impossible! I told him not to come back until I found this object. He shouldn't come back!" Leo had a clenched fist and was visibly pissed off.

Niles absently took an arrow from his quiver and ran his finger along the tip with a sadistic smile on his lips. "I could pull some strings so that an unfortunate event falls on him and therefore prevents him from coming back ... what do you say milord?"

Leo looked at Niles for a long time before sighing and returning to his desk. "No, don't do that. Even if he comes back it's impossible for him to bring the item I asked for and therefore I could get rid of him."

"Understood milord, your wishes are orders. With that I will retire." As Niles turned, putting one foot on the windowsill a throat clearing was heard. Niles then turned his head to his highness. "

"Niles, what did I tell you about going in and out through the windows? "Leo was not amused and was looking at Niles in exasperation.

"Oops, I had forgot about that, please punish me milord. "Niles spoke in an almost pleading voice a sadistic smile on his lips which just elicited a long sigh from Leo.

"I won't punish you Niles, that would be like giving you a present ... I'm giving up for this time but next time think about using the door. "

And with that Niles was gone, disappearing into the darkness of the night leaving Leo alone in his office now refreshed by the cool breeze of the night, not knowing when Odin will return, Niles said his sources informed him that he was coming back, but when will he be here ?

* * *

Selena was woken up by several loud knocks on her door, she quickly got up from her bed, annoyed, and walked to the door, opening it wide open. "What ?!" Snapped out of her lips before she even looked at her interlocutor.

In front of her was a breathless Laslow, an indecipherable expression on his face, Selena looked at him curiously but still flustered by the commotion he had caused. Why was he here?


	8. Day off

* * *

Laslow caught his breath for a few seconds before speaking quickly, wanting to prevent Selena from getting angry and yelling at him; "He...has returned...Odin has returned !" He said between his breaths, he was really out of breath leaning on his knees as a few drops of sweat trickled down his face.

Selena didn't know how long he had been running to be in this state but that wasn't the most important thing, Odin had returned. After a week without any news he was finally back.

"Really ?! How do you know that ? Where is he ??" Selena was no longer leaning against the doorframe as she spoke, she was now erect ready to go to where Odin was at any time, fixing her gaze on Lalsow waiting for answers.

"I heard a guard say he had come back, well ... he didn't say his name but I'm sure he was talking about him, 'an oddly dressed man who arrived not long ago' that's how the guard referred to him, it have to be Odin !"

Selena nodded, letting Laslow continue; "I don't know where he is but I think he's either in his quarters or in the infirmary."

"At the infirmary ?!" Selena was worried about her friend's hypothesis, she didn't really want to imagine Odin in the infirmary.

"It's just an assumption of course but we can't rule it out, after all Odin has been away for a whole week to carry out a mission given by Prince Leo ..."

As the concern grew in Selena she rationalized, the only way to find out what was going on was to find Odin. "You go see the infirmary and I get ready quickly before heading to Odin's quarters." Laslow nodded before heading towards the infirmary as Selena closed the door.

She walked over to her closet to take her mercenary outfit, changing into this one, simply putting aside her gloves and belt with her sword and satchel, before heading to her desk to pick up her comb. She looked quickly at the window, it was pitch dark, she had no idea what time it might be but it was much earlier than the time she normally woke up. She combed her hair quickly, not taking the time to tie it up, and walked quickly towards Odin's quarters.

Odin's quarters and the infirmary were far apart, so if Odin wasn't in his room she would take even longer to reach him. Besides, they hadn't talked about what they would do if Odin wasn't in his room or the infirmary, but she would take care of that later. Right now she was just focused on getting to Odin's quarters as quickly as possible. She sincerely hoped he was okay.

She didn't know if Laslow had arrived at the infirmary, but she saw the door to Odin's apartments looming a few yards away. Once arrived in front of the latter she knocked quickly and when in the next second no one answered she opened the door wide, rushing into the room.

She found herself again plunging into darkness, the contrast between the lighted hallways, less than during the day but still, and the dark room made her eyes need some time to get used to it. Although Odin's room is dimly lit by a small lantern.

Selena caught her breath, she hadn't noticed that she was so short of breath, in itself the brisk walk between her quarters and Odin's was not very tiring, but she had somehow forgotten how to breathe on the journey, too worried and at the same time filled with hope.

Since she had opened the door wide she hadn't moved, just looking at the person in front of her, Odin, sitting on his bed.

"Heyyy ... um ... Hi Selena ? ... what's the matter with you coming in like this without knocking, I could be ... busy .." Odin smirked awkwardly, embarrassed at the silence that reigned and surprised to see Selena in the middle of the night.

Before he could do anything else, he saw burgundy hair flashing towards him in a flash before a pain hit the top of his head. He couldn't follow, but Selena wasn't going to give him time to clear his thoughts as she fell down towards him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a tight embrace.

A few seconds passed before Odin finally spoke. "Whaaa Selena what is this? You would almost scare me." He chuckled slightly knowing he would piss off Selena for not "reading the moment" or something like that. And indeed hardly had he finished speaking that Selena was moving away from him as quickly as she had approached. Stepping back a few steps, crossing her arms a frowning pout across her face as she called out "Don't tell anyone !"

Odin laughed a little harder before falling silent under the gaze Selena gave him. Raising his hands in defense before miming that he wouldn't say anything to anyone. Selena relaxed a bit, letting a small smile form on her lips before remembering that Odin had been gone for a week barely informing them. Her face hardened again as she moved slightly towards Odin, the latter noticing his friend's change in expression, swallowing hard. He knew what was going to happen.

"Where had you been going for a whole week, without even telling us ?!" Selena spoke accusingly, continuing to walk towards Odin pointing a threatening finger at him.

"My brave friend, before I disappeared I left a message -"

"You mean that unclear note that tells us nothing other than the fact that you are gone ?!" Selena was genuinely pissed off and with each word raised her tone.

To that Odin couldn't say anything, it was true that his message was not clear but at the same time at that moment he didn't know anything either. "And what should I have done then, wake you up in the middle of the night to tell you that I was going on a mission ?!" Odin had raised his voice slightly too, which surprised Selena making her take a step back, it was very unusual for Odin to raise his voice.

Selena quickly crossed her arms again before throwing; "Well yes! Or ... no ... I don't know ! Just ..." she turned slightly, not wanting to face Odin. She knew Odin had done what he could and left a note for them but still, he had been away for a whole week, did he know how his absence had worried her, and Laslow? And there he was back as if nothing had happened. It annoyed her and at the same time she was reassured, not knowing how to deal with her emotions, she let out everything on Odin.

There was a moment of blank before Odin sighed before finally speaking. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have raised my voice. And I should have done something other than just leave a note." Odin still didn't know what he could have done other than leave a note but he still decided to give in and say he was wrong, knowing full well that Selena would never agree to say that she has does some harm.

Selena turned to him, a slightly childish scowl on her face before letting her arms drop to the side and turning fully to Odin. "And I shouldn't have let out my frustration on you." It wasn't an apology, but Odin would be happy with it. He even remembered not to go back over the 'frustration' she had been talking about, her frustration referring to the effect his absence had caused, so in this case, because Selena was worried about him. Normally he would have teased her about it, but not this time. Instead he just gave her a smile that she didn't return, but she still went to sit on the chair across from Odin.

"By what sorcery have you detect my presence?"

"Laslow came to wake me up maybe 15 minutes ago now, telling me he overheard one of the guards say you came back."

"And where is my accomplice in the shadows?" Odin looked around to support his words.

"We got separated in order to look for you, Laslow hypothesized that you would be here or in the infirmary. So I came here and he went to the infirmary. Since you are not there he is probably on his way to get here. " Said Selena thoughtfully with her head up looking at the ceiling before her eyes widened slightly, her gaze quickly returning to Odin.

"Besides, are you hurt ?!" The tone of her voice was slightly worried, more than she expected to let it appear.

As Odin protruded his chest, waving his hand and opening his mouth ready to speak Selena added quickly; "And don't lie to me."

Odin's posture sagged slightly as his face changed into an awkward expression. She could really read through him. At the same time,it wasn't a surprise, they had been together almost all their lives and with the others too.

Odin then stretched out his right arm, dropping his cloak and picking up a rather fresh wound, probably a few days old, there was a shallow gash that stretched lengthwise over a good part of his arm. The wound had not been treated.

Selena took Odin's arm looking intently at the wound before looking up to meet the gaze of Odin who was looking at her impassively. "Is that the only place you're hurt?" Odin nodded, eliciting a sigh of relief from Selena. Odin was injured but the wound was nothing to worry about, of course it had to be treated so that it wouldn't get infected but they had known much worse in the past so an injury like this was not giving enough to worry about.

"We should go find a caregiver, even though it's the night I think we can find one." As Selena stood up, heading for the door Odin grabbed her arm, stopping her in motion. Selena just turned her head towards him, a confused look on her face.

"No, we can't do that ! I do not want this to arrive to Prince Leo's ears. He must not find out that I was injured on my first mission, even if it is just a simple scratch." Selena thought the majority of people wouldn't consider this wound to be a 'simple scratch' but she didn't pick up, she just sat down.

"Then what do you want to do, I understand that you don't want to go see a caregiver but you still have to disinfect the wound."

Right then, Lalsow appeared in the doorway, breathless, holding a few bandages and balm in his arms. Selena and Odin laughed lightly, it looked like a stroke of fate. Laslow walked into the room not really understanding why his two friends were laughing but he smiled awkwardly, stepping over to lean against the desk.

Selena quickly explained to him that Odin had hurt himself and that he actually needed a bandage and a balm. Laslow then quickly passed her what he had brought back from the infirmary as Odin rolled up the transparent right sleeve of his garment, reaching out to Selena who took it carefully.

"Was there someone in the infirmary, because if so, that person must have given you those bandages and balm and it might be a bit suspicious not to say who they would serve for ... Odin wants to keep all this secret." Selena spoke, not looking at Lalsow, too busy holding Odin's arm with one hand and with the other applying the balm partially all over the wound.

"Don't worry, there was no one there. So I just took these bandages and balm just in case ... and it looks like I did right ..." Laslow gave a look that said Long towards Odin, the latter responded with a clumsy smile, scratching the back of his head with his left hand. Lalsow sighed as a small smile was on his lips before returning to his serious face. "When you're done I'll go back there neither seen nor known to put them back in their place. Laslow stood up and moved to close the door for more privacy before heading back to the desk to lean on it again.

Selena was now taking care of the bandages, Odin stretched out his right arm as straight as possible as Selena carefully wrapped a bandage around Odin's arm. "Now that I think about it ... how are you going to hide that bandage with your see-through sleeves?" She didn't look up at Odin as she spoke, remaining focused on what she was doing.

"I can still hide my arm with my cloak."

"Hun-hun…" Selena didn't look convinced.

"What ? Don't you think that's enough?" Odin seemed slightly indignant, his plan was perfect, besides wrapping himself in his cloak could make him look even more evil. Well ... that's what he thought at least.

"For a normal person yes that would be enough but ... Odin you really think you can stop yourself from doing all these gestures, and these poses. Do you really think you can just not move your arm so that it stays hidden in your cloak? "

Odin hadn't thought of it and he didn't really know how to interpret his friend's words, she didn't consider him a normal person, he took it as a compliment, but… Selena didn't give compliments so...

"Of course I can stay still for hours if I want to! Don't underestimate the great Odin Dark!" As he said this he raised both his arms upwards and laughed with a laugh he wanted to be evil. He lowered his eyes slightly to look at Selena, expecting a look of admiration but all he saw was a Selena who looked up at him with a raised eyebrow as her eyes said "what was I saying" his laughter lowered as he realized he'd just done one of those 'poses' Selena was talking about. Finally he lowered his arms.

"You're lucky I finished your bandage, otherwise, if it had come undone because of what you just did I wouldn't have fix it another time."

Without further comment Selena handed the balm and bandages not used to Laslow to put them on the desk, which he did.

"Anyway, why don't you tell us what this mission was ? " Laslow spoke casually as Selena also nodded curiously. A huge smile formed on Odin's lips as he nodded, starting to recount his journey.

He explained to them that Leo wanted an object, or more precisely a crystal containing the essence of darkness, there were only a few rumors and myths about it so Odin had no starting leads exept that this crystal was apparently in the east. He had therefore gone to the east and had arrived fairly quickly in a small country village. Over there after having wandered through the badly frequented alleys at night a thief had told him about a certain temple hidden in a forest. The next day Odin went there.

He explained to his friends that as soon as he approached the forest his inner darkness resonated with those of the forest. And while he had descended from his faithful steed, this latter galloped off rushing deep into the forest, according to him it was because his horse was also a servant of darkness and that the call was too strong for his steed to resist and so he too let his dark blood take over. What his friends translate to 'he approached the forest he got off his horse the horse had been scared for some reason and galloped, Odin not knowing what to do followed him.'

He continued to tell his story not caring about the not amused and unconvinced looks he got from his friends. He explained that he eventually arrived in front of an ancient temple with no real opening and that after casting an evil spell some stones moved, just enough to let him pass. Once inside the passage closed leaving him alone in the dark.

Thanks to magic he lit up and explored the temple. He told of the many puzzles he had to solve and the many traps he had to avoid. His injury was coming from one of those traps, a spear coming out of a wall which he had only seen a quarter of a second too late and so had been unable to avoid.

As Odin continued to recount what he had lived Laslow and Selena were a bit bored. Odin was not a liar far from it but he had tended to exaggerate things so they struggled to know what was true and what was false. They would not be surprised to learn that the crystal was simply in an old abandoned temple in a somewhat spooky forest, without all these twists and turns to await it.

Odin continued his story for about twenty minutes before finally stopping talking looking at his friends waiting for a reaction. When Laslow and Selena realized he was done they pretended to be impressed. They had stopped really listening a long time ago, hearing only a few words here and there, but Odin didn't seem to notice.

Odin stretched out his hand to reach for his bag which was next to him and took out a small round object. It was the crystal. It was indescribably dark, and it was as if around the crystal you could see some sort of evil aura wanting to escape from the crystal. Selena and Laslow were really fascinated by the object, it was exactly as Odin had described it, maybe in the end he hadn't exaggerated his story. Laslow and Selena felt a little bad now that they hadn't really listened to him.

After that, the three friends separate to end their night. Since when the sun comes up it will mark the start of their first day off, they didn't want to be too tired to enjoy it.

* * *

Odin woke up, tired, the night had been short. He got up quickly though, changing into his usual outfit, carefully fixing his cloak. Although it was still relatively early he decided he would report to Leo now, even though it was, technically, his day off. He walked over to his bag and grabbed it putting it over his shoulder, he then check the bag to make sure the crystal was there. Once that was done he left towards Leo's quarters.

He got there quickly and knocked twice on the door. He verified that his bandaged arm was well hidden under his cloak as he heard a weak response through the door informing him that he could enter.

He opened the door with less of his usual energy, making sure to stay calm and not move his cloak under any circumstances. He closed the door behind him before turning and walking towards Leo, who as usual, was hunched over his desk, many documents around him. He bowed respectfully wishing his liege a good morning.

"Milord, I apologize for appearing when the sun has only just begun its quest. However, I have come to report to you on the mission you gave me a few nights ago."

Odin looked in his bag a few seconds before he took out a small sphere, the crystal.

Leo watched Odin's actions curiously, does what Odin was holding was really a crystal containing the essence of darkness ? He wasn't even sure if the crystal existed in the first place, let alone what it looked like. So now that he had the so-called object in front of him he couldn't tell if it was a true. He glanced suspiciously at Odin before returning his gaze to the crystal.

To say he was pissed off would be an understatement, he couldn't believe this man calling himself Odin Dark was there in front of him, a crystal containing the essence of darkness in his hand. It had to be admitted that it commanded respect but Leo refused the thought, after all, he still had no confirmation that this object was really the crystal he asked for.

"I will do some research on this item thoroughly, to make sure it isn't a fake replica of the item I asked for." His tone was smug, not hiding his disgust at the fact that Odin had returned to the castle.

"Of course milord, although I would never lie to you."

Odin spoke with great confidence, which pissed off Leo even more. He very quickly inspected Odin for something that might give him an excuse to mock him, such as an injury, but he found nothing. Not wanting to linger he quickly stopped his inspection and looked down at his books. If he had been a little more vigilant he would have seen how stressed Odin had been in this last few seconds.

Leo looked up at Odin. "Put the crystal on my desk, I'll examine it later. I'll summon you in a few days for your next assignment, of course ... only if this crystal is really what you say it is." And with that Leo only focused on his books, paying no more attention to Odin who bowed before announcing he was leaving and then carefully closed the door behind him.

Leo sighed in annoyance, he glanced at the crystal, what was he going to do if the crystal really contained the essence of darkness? How was he going to get rid of him? If he was honest he would confess that he was very surprised that Odin fulfilled his mission, and even more of that, he comes back unhurt. But Leo being Leo he rejected the idea, he had decided to get rid of the man so he would.

As he started tapping his foot in annoyance, he felt the room cooler, he could even feel a slight draft on his face. He turned his head to the window to find it open, plus Niles was there, leaning against the windowsill. A mean smile drawing the tip of his lips.

"I heard your conversation milord, wasn't intentional of course ... it's just that the walls are thin" Leo knew full well that the walls were anything but thin but he let it pass.

"Are you sure milord you don't want me to pull some strings ? Order me and you'll never hear from the man again." As he spoke Niles had moved over to Leo's desk, taking the crystal in one of his hands before starting to play with it, passing it absently from one hand to the other.

Leo simply sighed. "No Niles I want to savor his expression when I fire him." A mean, sadistic smile reigned over Leo's face.

"Mmmm ~ I will never get tired of seeing that expression on your face milord, you are even more sadistic than me ..."

Leo looked amused at his faithful vassal, he will never change, and although many people had a hard time surround him, he had become used to his twisted personality, he had even come to appreciate it. And although many wondered why Prince Leo had chosen Niles as his vassal, Leo, he, would not replace him with anyone else.

* * *

Selena was currently waiting at the gates of the castle which led to one of the highest bridges in the castle. As agreed earlier with her friends, they had arranged to meet here at the beginning of the afternoon. She had gotten up later than usual but her night had been shorter due to the fact that Odin had returned. She had taken the time to get ready, and go about a few of her hobbies before it was time for the meeting.

She had been waiting there for 5 minutes and, at the moment, there was no sign of Laslow and Odin. Once they arrived, they would leave for the city to join Julia and Marc's little inn. It had been three weeks since they hadn't left the castle, with the exception of Odin, three weeks since they hadn't seen Julia and Marc, and a little more than a month now that they arrived in this world.

When she heard some noise she turned her attention to the source of it and moved slightly away from where she was leaning against until now when she understood the noise was coming from her two friends chatting quietly. When they arrived they said hello and Selena easily took part in the conversation as the trio made their way to town.

They roamed the streets, paying more or less attention to their surroundings. The city was not very familiar to them and when they had been taken to the castle the curtains of the carriage they were in were closed, so they did not really know the way to the inn. The one who knew it the best was Odin since he had crossed the city on horseback to go to carry out the mission that Prince Leo had entrusted to him, but even with that "to know" was a big word.

After a good half hour of walking they finally arrived in front of the inn, on the way they got lost, had made detours, took some so-called shortcuts but they still ended up finding their way back to the inn anyway.

Odin knocked twice and opened the door wide, recalling his first arrival at the inn, except that this time, he did not collapse, neither he nor his friends. The trio moved quickly into the room, their eyes resting directly on Julia who was staring at them with wide eyes, it would be an understatement to say she was surprised but she was none the less happy and relieved. Quickly putting down the rag she was holding in her hands she walked over to the trio. She didn't hesitate for a second to give them all a huge hug.

"You are fine kids, you are fine. I am so relieved."

The trio hugged her back somewhat awkwardly but sincerely. They had missed her. Julia finally released them, stepping back a few steps and wiped away the few tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. The three friends gave her a big warm smile to reassure her that everything was fine.

"Ohh if only you knew how sorry we are, how much we regret. We-" Julia spoke quickly with a few tears running down her cheeks, but this time it was tears of sadness and guilt. Laslow cut her off, however, preventing her from continuing her non-cense monologue. "It's all right Julia, nothing is your fault, you and Marc have no reason to blame yourself for anything."

Julia took a few seconds to calm down before speaking again. "You say that but ... but now you are stuck being the vassals of the royal family!"

"Hey!" Selena stepped forward a bit, so as not to be slightly behind Odin and to be able to see Julia better. Her tone softened as Julia looked at her. "We're not stuck being anything, we chose it ..." she thought for a moment, she thought she will tell Julia the truth but given that the royal family had asked them to remain silent about everything about th whole temporary vassals thing she made up for it. "I mean, we're happy with our current situation, if anything, it would be more to no longer be the vassals of the royal family that would be a problem for us."

Julia didn't believe it, from what she knew the trio were traveling travelers, why would they be happy to become someone's vassals, especially the royal family of Nohr. However, something in their looks forced Julia to believe them, she sighed in defeat. "I guess I can only believe you ... however if I find out that you lied to me just to make me feel better you are not prepared for what will happen to you." The end of his sentence was much lighter allowing the three friends, after a look between them to smile fully at Julia. The atmosphere had clearly relaxed.

Julia soon called Marc who was upstairs to inform him that the trio had returned and that everything was fine.

The reunion was happy and noisy, since it was the beginning of the afternoon the inn was empty allowing the three friends and Julia and Marc to sit at the bar with a drink in front of them talking about the three weeks that just passed.

Thanks to the money from the tournament, the inn was saved from its debts and therefore is no longer in danger of demolition, now Julia and Marc can get off to a good start. During the last few minutes the couple had not stopped thanking the three friends for all they had done for them.

"Julia and I are so grateful to you, we owe you a lot!"

"Heyyy, heyyy, everything's fine, it's fine. There is no need to thank us anymore and also you owe us nothing, after all you have housed and fed us, it's just pays off." The insistence was on both sides, the couple continuing to thank them and the three friends continuing to say that everything was fine and that they no longer needed to thank them.

"Fine ... if you say so. But know that if you ever need our help you can count on us." Marc finally let go, giving an awkward but sincere smile.

"Oh! Now that I think about it !" Julia turned to Marc to see if he was thinking the same thing as she did.

"Of course !" And with that Marc walked away from the counter quickly, and disappeared down the stairs that led upstairs. He returned a few minutes later with a rather large bag in his hand. A bag that looked drop by drop like one of the ones the trio had won in the tournament.

The trio exchanged a look of incomprehension before looking from Julia to Marc and the bag.

As Marc put the bag down on one of the tables near the counter Julia spoke. "This is the unused money, each of you won 80,000ECU, so that made a total of 240,000ECU, but I'm not telling you anything you didn't already knew obviously. Our debt was of 200,000ECU so in this bag are the 40,000ECU which belong to yo three."

The three friends hesitate, it is true that they would like to keep this money for themselves, after all they hardly had any more, a few coins here and there but that's all, and although they have a salary now the the end of the month was three weeks away, they had started working, really, at the beginning of the month. But at the same time if they had participated in this contest in the first place it was for Julia and Marc, they had won this money for them and for them alone. As they looked away from the bag towards Julia, Laslow getting ready to speak to refuse the money Julia spoke.

"Don't even try to refuse." Laslow then closed his mouth with an awkward smile on his lips and sent Marc a look meaning "please, some help ?" Marc slowly shook his head firmly.

Laslow sighed, this time he was admitting defeat. "Fine, thanks alot." He gave them a big grateful smile, this money will be very useful to them.

They all continued talking for a little over two hours before getting up to leave. Odin grabbed the bag of money and threw it over his shoulder before following his friends who were now heading for the door. As Selena had one hand on the doorknob and said goodbye to the couple Julia spoke quickly after a knowing glance with her husband.

"Come back to see us whenever you want. You have free access to all food and drink from here."

"Really? Thank you very much, we're not going to refuse this. I just hope you'll don't regret it!" Selena was talking playfully as she quietly pointed at her two friends.

After that they left without waiting too much and walked for a few minutes before finding a low wall to sit on.

"Pfioou, it feels good to see them again." Selena stretched a bit as she spoke a soft little smile pulled the corner of her lips.

"My brave friend, I could not agree more. These two charitable souls have been missed even by the servant of darkness that I am."

"We should go see them as often as possible." Laslow made a pose. "We only have one day off a week, but that's already that."

Selena and Odin nodded. A slight silence took place before Selena broke it. "So we have 40,000 ECU between the three of us now. Which makes a little over 10,000 each ... not bad." Selena nodded as she spoke, one hand holding her chin while the other supported her elbow.

Laslow nodded at Selena's statement before turning to Odin letting Selena continue to think about what no one would know. "It's almost late afternoon, which still leaves us plenty of time. What are you going to do now?"

"My being begs for exploration, these needs going as far as the exploitation of these newly acquired goods. Forbidden or sealed books. Evil potions or even dark equipment."

"Mmm…" Lalsow seemed to think for a moment. "I think I'll do the same, take my marks in the city, but rather than bookstores I think I would rather go to restaurants, but now that I think about it ... booksellers could be quite great... some young studious women… "Laslow thought out loud getting an amused look from Odin.

As Odin and Laslow got ready to leave, each in opposite directions, barely had they taken a step they were pulled back by their collars, suffocating. They both turned their head to see a Selena, who had visibly stopped thinking, an innocent yet malicious smile on her lips.

"You're not going anywhere. I know what we're going to do."

Sweat had started to form on Odin and Lalsow's foreheads, something they wanted to avoid at all costs was happening. They both knew what Selena was thinking, and they also knew they couldn't escape it.

And that's how they spent the next 4 hours browsing all the clothing stores Selena saw, patiently waiting for Selena to try on clothes for long minutes only to ultimately not buy them. To serve as a coat rack, Selena tossing them unwanted clothes or not yet trying one. And there they were, following her without complaining and without speaking, Selena rarely asking their advice and when she did she always cut them off before they could say even just three words.

When they were done with a store there was no break, Selena spotting the next one straight away. When Laslow and Odin tried to steer her away from the direction where there was a store she hadn't seen yet, she gave them a suspicious look and walked without taking any time in the direction that Laslow and Odin dreaded.

The more time passed, the happier Selena was and the more her two friends were desperate, boxes of shoes and bags of clothes piled up in their arms without ever stopping. Selena walked fast and they had to follow, being careful not to drop anything because who knows what Selena could do to them in this case, they certainly didn't want to know. What saved them wasn't that Selena finally got bored or felt sorry for them, no.

What saved them was closing hour of the store preventing Selena from continuing what they considered torture.

So she had been forced to stop shopping, complaining that stores were closing too early.

They were on their way back to the castle, Selena carried a bag or two on her arms just for the pleasure of holding her new purchases, behind her Laslow and Odin carried each one, what looked like a mountain of bags and boxes, because of that they could hardly see where they walked.

They finally came to one of the double doors leading to the castle, the ones at the top. Selena struck a break and sighed. "Whaaa- I can't take it anymore, my arms hurts!" A smile was on her lips though, arm pain or not it has been a very good shopping spree.

Laslow and Odin were dismayed, how could she even say that. It has to be a joke. They didn't say anything, because it wouldn't be nice words coming out of their mouths if they opened it. The temptation to throw the bags and boxes into the ravine stretching just above them was almost unbearable. But they didn't, again, too worried about what would happen to them. Selena began to walk again to the great misfortune of her friends and entered the castle, heading for her quarters, her friends followed her and once finally arrived they deposited all the items carefully on the bed and on the floor when there was no more space.

Selena pushed them slowly but surely out of her room and before Lalsow and Odin knew it the door closed quickly in their face. They were speechless, like really?

A few seconds passed as the door swung open again, just enough to let Selena's head pass. "... thank you .." and with that the door closed as quickly as it had opened, and this time for good.

Although slightly annoyed, tired, no, exhausted a slight amused smile was on Odin and Lalsow's faces as they shook their head. That was Selena for you.

* * *

After spending an hour or two retrying her newly purchased clothes, matching them with each other, seeing what went best with what, taking the time to re-examine them thoroughly she ends up folding them and putting them in her wardrobe happily. finally, after three weeks, she was able to contemplate a wardrobe worthy of the name and not just empty.

It was rather late now the night had started to fall, Selena could think of several things to do but decided to head to the training ground, she went there almost daily, although her workouts varied in time. Sometimes it was long and intensive but sometimes it was just a slight fifteen minute warm-up. She hadn't decided what it would be like today as she put on her gloves and hung up her belt, she left her sword in her room like every time she went to train, she only took it when she knew Odin and Laslow would be there too.

Selena arrived at the training ground bluntly, now getting used to the layout of the castle. She opened the two large, heavy doors and let them close behind her with a loud bang. A few heads turned to her as she walked deeper into the room. Some after seeing that it was Selena turned their heads quickly not wanting to meet her gaze, Selena didn't care.

Everyone in the room knew who she was, already since she was in the direct service of Nohr's first princess, Camilla. But also because she was used to come to the training ground, but moreover Selena often challenge any soldier if she is bored. At the beginning everyone agreed to train with her but the more time went by, fewer and fewer people accepted her challenge. The cause ? Selena had crushed any soldier, it was always one-sided battles, Selena was punching her opponents as the person desperately tried to block the blows. Fighting always ended quickly and the outcome was predictable.

Result, once beaten nobody wanted to challenge her again, Selena didn't care, if they didn't dare fight against her out of fear it was because they were too cowardly, and therefore not opponents that interested her.

She continued to ignore the stares as she walked to the back of the room to pick up a practice sword. When she returned, sword in hand, she quickly scanned the room with her eyes, as her gaze fell on a group of about ten people her eyes narrowed before a smirk formed on her lips, she knew them.

Selena walked over to them, and once close enough she cleared her throat making her presence known. The group turned to her, all looking at her curiously. Selena didn't say a word, she only looked in the eyes of the tallest man in the group and nodded towards her sword. Then she waited, the man didn't move, his gaze remaining fixed in Selena's eyes, his gaze was overwhelming but Selena didn't even care, she was just waiting for the man to do something.

Selena knew them and she knew they remembered her too, after all it had only been two weeks. They weren't all here though, leaving Selena unsatisfied but she didn't say anything. The one that interested her the most was there. The last time they had seen each other she had beaten them all without exception, but it was in 1 vs 1.

The man finally ends, after long seconds, by nodding his head very slightly. Selena turned away from him and headed into the battlespace, where no one was already. The man followed her and when he found himself facing her Selena smiled before turning her head towards the other nine remaining people.

"What are you doing ? Come here."

Confusion was on every face except Selena's, a smug look still firmly in place.

"Last time is was in 1 vs 1, but not this time." She paused, seeming to think. "Also ... don't hold back your strength like last time, go all out !" Selena wasn't entirely sure what she was claiming was true but she found it fishy that some of Camilla's training partners were so weak.

The remaining nine soldiers hesitated for a moment longer before heading into the battlespace, not quite confident. They surrounded Selena, leaving no escape, and got into a fighting stance. Selena smirked slightly in anticipation before she too got into fighting stance, paying attention to every move, she was going to fight without playing too much around from the start.

As the seconds passed no one moved, Selena waited. Everyone was waiting, but what? Just in case Selena gave a slight nod and apparently that was all the soldiers needed to, before Selena could even react, pounce on her. Only the taller man didn't move.

Selena blocked all hits, throwing the soldiers far behind, she was surrounded and she had to quickly find a way to fix it. The soldiers were much stronger than last time but in 1 vs 1 they still wouldn't make the weight, however if they held on in this formation until she ran out of steam they had a great chance of winning, Selena will not let that happen.

As she continued to push back her opponents, taking the opportunity to strike a few pommels in the stomachs of the soldiers who were behind her when she had no time to turn and block, she glanced at the tall man, still motionless, a perfectly neutral face showing nothing. Selena swore, what was his problem, why wasn't he moving ? The annoyance grew and the soldiers trying to break her defense received much more violent and harsh blows than before, destabilizing them. Selena took advantage of the surprise that her strength had created to come out of this formation where she was surrounded, she quickly positioned herself behind them.

She had no more people behind her, the nine soldiers were in front of her, as long as she was careful at her side she feared nothing. The soldiers charged at her and she easily disarmed the first soldiers flying their swords far behind them. Those she did not think it prudent to disarm at the moment were pushed away as before.

The fight continued the soldiers fell little by little, once eliminated they put themselves on the sides to not disturb the continuation of the confrontation. Soon there was only Selena, slightly out of breath and sweaty, in front of the man who hadn't moved from the start. She was planning to open her mouth to complain that he was supposed to be fighting and not just watching when the man moved quickly, charging her. Selena blocked, but the man pulled her back a few steps.

She hadn't thought about it too blind with her annoyance, but the man had waited for the perfect moment to attack, when Selena would be most out of breath obviously. She pushed him away with difficulty putting all the strength she had in this push and quickly jumped back. Hardly landed the man charged her, Selena avoided narrowly the blow and took the opportunity to deliver a side blow which was easily avoided by the man.

Selena realized the difference in level compared to last time, he clearly wasn't going seriously back then. A smile of excitement took place on Selena's lips, taking the man off guard.

She charged him and swung her sword where his hilt was weakest, he always dodged or countered but Selena continued tirelessly. She was playing with him. All of the man's attacks also never hit their mark. They continued to exchange blows for long minutes. They were both out of breath and sweaty now, but Selena's smile did not weaken. Fighting this man reminded her of the friendlies she had with Laslow and Odin. Even the man had, too, eventually let out a slight smile, signifying that Selena was not the only one enjoying the fight.

They both jumped back, their posture slumped slightly, trying to catch their breath before they threw themselves into battle again.

The fight dragged on and with a knowing look between the two, they realized they were thinking the same thing. It was time to finish it. They exchanged a few more blows giving each other time to think about the best way to finish their opponent.

The man charged her in and Selena dodged on purpose at the last minute, she repeated the same action a few time before finally going on the offensive and before the man even understood what had happened. He had found himself on the ground, breathless and stunned. Once Selena got down to it seriously the difference in strength was unmistakable. But out of respect for her opponent she had let the fight go on just a little longer so that her victory would not be overwhelming and humiliating for her opponent.

Her clothes stuck to her skin as did her hair, the pigtails partially undone. She was out of breath and sweaty and she hated it but right now she wasn't even thinking about it. The friendly match was over, she had won and surprisingly had a great time, well, above her expectations.

As she reached out her hand to the man who was still on the ground, the door swung open and everyone turned their attention to it. All the soldiers present froze in the second they saw who had just entered bowing respectfully.

As Selena pulled her hand up to lift the man, who barely stood, bowed, Selena turned her gaze to the person who had created all the commotion.

Lady Camilla was there a few feet from her, Selena was surprised to say the least, she clearly did not expect to see her lady. She then bowed very quickly before straightening up and making eye contact with her lady.

Camilla smiles slightly. "Well, here you are. I was looking for you. I wanted to tell you something."


End file.
